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ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 






BY 



JOHN ^I. LOWRIE, D. D. 

AUTHOR OF " ESTHER AND HER TIMES. 

PASTOR OF THE FITIST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
FORT WAYNE, INDIANA. 



" jVo age 
Can outgrow truth, or can afford to part 
With the tried wisdom of the past, with words 
That centuries hare sifted, and on which 
Ages have set their seal." 

BONAE. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 821 Chestnut Street. 



^^/8<^ /.^ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Treas. 

in the Clerk's OflBce of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 

STEaEOTYPED BY WILLIAM W. HARDING, PHILADELPHIA. 



l^p kh ^ 



PREFACE. 



These chapters do not pretend to discuss their grave 
topics with the critical learning that might befit the the- 
ological chair. It is indeed important that all Scriptural 
doctrines should be truthfully and accurately stated ; but 
it is an excellency of the Bible that it reserves no doc- 
trines for a special class of disciples. It is a Revelation, 
and it invites every man to become a learner. We recog- 
nize no such difference between the pupils in a theological 
school, and the readers of a religious book, or the hearers 
in a Christian sanctuary, as to allow that the first are to 
be taught doctrines which they are not in turn to trans- 
mit to their hearers. The book is for all ; the same sub- 
stantial teachings each believer needs, that he may be- 
come a perfect man in Christ Jesus ; the same truths give 
vigour to piety in any sphere of duty. And if we may 
grant that the ministry of the gospel, set for the defence 
and the interpretation of the truth, should have a critical 
acquaintance with the sacred text, and a wider range of 
information touching the views of opposers and errorists ; 

even this difference, which regards only the manner and 

o 



4 PREFACE. 

extent of the teachings they receive and not the doctrines 
themselves, is a difference less plainly marked in our own 
times than formerly. For now every man is a reader ; 
the press vies with the pulpit in discussing sacred themes ; 
and hundreds of men, all over the land, are ready to re- 
ceive the judicious discussion of any Scriptural teach- 
ings. 

The doctrines here treated of belong to every age of 
the Church, and are traced back to the earliest period of 
revealed religion ; and no intelligent man can judge them 
unsuitable for the instruction of a Christian people. Yet 
it is perhaps true that they are less discussed among us, 
than in the days of our fathers. But may it not be that 
the stirring activity of our times needs a larger admix- 
ture of their thoughtful training in those sterling doc- 
trines, that have never been neglected without enervating 
the piety of the Church, and never been received without 
invigorating it ? 

These pages contain the substance of a course of lec- 
tures given to the congregation of which the author is 
pastor. They are not printed as originally spoken. Many 
practical thoughts and exhortations have been omitted, 
and this partly because the manuscript was not used in 
the pulpit. The reasons which induced their original 
preparation may justify their wider circulation by means 
of the press. They are such as these : All Scripture is 
given by inspiration of God, and is profitable. The peo- 
ple of God have a right to all the teachings of his word ; 
the entire scheme of salvation cannot be presented, nor 
the symmetry of any parts be preserved, if these things 



PREFACE. 5 

are omitted. The Scriptural method of teaching doctrine 
is not in the abstract form, but in connection with the 
events of life and history which call forth the doctrine, 
and illustrate it, and give it interest. An intelligent peo- 
ple cannot be formed under any ministry that does not 
take pains to give careful instruction. The more patient 
thought is demanded of any people, the more fully will 
they rise to it, provided their interest can be awakened ; 
and finally, the press is the most fitting means of teach- 
ihg truths which require more mature thought than can 
be given at a single hearing. 

The theology of the book accords, it is believed, with 
that of the old Calvinistic divines. No effort is made 
at an unattainable originality upon themes sixty centuries 
old. There will be found, indeed, no servile copying of 
any human master ; but our respect is profound for the 
Scriptural writers. Of them we cannot say more, and 
desire not to say less, than that the longer we study them 
the deeper is our conviction that " holy men of old 
spake,'' not by the promptings of human wisdom, but 
" as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.'' 

If things are found here that others have said before, 

let the words of an ancient critic be a sufficient defence. 

They who are competent to make the charge will respect 

the authority. " Quum pravum quoddam (ut arbitror) 

studium circa scriptores artium exstiterit, nihil eisdem 

verbis, quae prior aliquis occupasset, finiendi ; quae am- 

bitio procul aberit a me.'' Quint. Inst. Orat. Lib. II. 

C. XV. I 37. 
1* 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE RELATION OP THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE NEW. 

FAGB 

Christ came not to destroy the law ; he fulfils its type, and pre- 
dictions ; and the moral law. Law and gospel harmonize. 0. 
T. Scriptures not superseded : consistent with the New. Christ 
gave his sanction to the ancient Scriptures : indeed they are 
more instructive now than ever — Religious experience of 
ancient believers profitable 13 

CHAPTER II. 

OLD TESTAMENT BIOGRAPHIES. 

Past ages live in history and biography. We need faithful de- 
lineations. Scriptural descriptions truthful. We get just ideas 
of the persons — Hard to decide what allowance to make. 
These are our examples 22 

CHAPTER III. 

THE FIRST MAN. 

Life of the first man interesting. His influence ever felt. " The 
Son of God.'' A perfect man. ''Very good." His knowledge, 
uprightness, immortality, conscience. Thoughts upon con- 
science 28 

CHAPTER IV. 

ADAM IN PARADISE. 

Eden. A beautiful spot — Like heaven. Liable to fall. A tiller 
of the ground — Employment a blessing— Not lawless, but in 
subjection — Self-denial an essential element of earthly piety. 
Our happiness .* » 34 

(7) 



8 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE GARDEN AND ITS TREES. 

PAGE 

Many opinions respecting Eden. Its site — Discrepant views — 
Trees of beauty and food. Vegetable food — Two trees — The 
tree of knowledge — The tree of life 40 

CHAPTER VI. 

MARRIAGE AS GIVEN IN EDEN. 

First social institution. Ordained of God. Two parties — Eve a 
helpmeet. Marriage honourable — Unwise restrictions — Per- 
manent — Ruled by love — Divorce — Value shown by tendency 
to corruption — Evils of our time. An aged couple. A happy 
land where the Scriptural ordinance is maintained 45 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE ORIGIN AND PERPETUITY OF THE SABBATH. 

Sabbath in Eden — Not a Jewish institution — For man innocent 
and more needed now. Observed before Moses ; predicted 
after Christ ; for man. The change of day argues perpetuity. 
Only perpetual things retained under the gospel — Paul's mean- 
ing 67 

CHAPTER VIII. 

NATURE, DESIGN, AND DUTIES OF THE SABBATH. 

Sacred obligations of the day — Men want a Sunday — A dese- 
crated Sabbath undesirable — Proper use — The original — More 
needed since the fall — Especially in our age — Steam and labour 
— The poor — U. S. — Like marriage, a family institution — This 
secures all the rest — Baxter — Holy time — Important question 
— France — A type of heaven. Paradise lost and regained 76 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 

The Labyrinth — How sin? Theories. "God the Author of 
Sin.'* " A necessary evil.*' Incredible and mischievous — The 
guiding thread — We must acknowledge facts — God sovereign 
and man free — Permitted : in sovereignty and wisdom 86 



CONTENTS. 9 

CHAPTER X. 

THE GREAT TEMPTER. 

PAGB 

The serpent — Satan — Scriptural teachings of him 94 

CHAPTER XI. 

man's first sin. 
Some think the first sin insignificant. Serious for many reasons 
— Threatening and promise — Representative — Adam knew it. 
Personal duty. This offence serious — The chief of sinners 98 

CHAPTER XII. 

the temptation. 
Brief sketches — Eve — Tempter's manner — sight of the tree — dis- 
trust — gradual — Adam tempted — Good and evil — Unwilling 
to meet Grod — Falsehood; self-justification; impenitence 106 

CHAPTER XIII. 
the gospel announced. 
The tempter first judged — The serpent — Satan — The conflict — 
Germ of the gospel — The Seed is Christ — Traditions. Christ's 
people — A long struggle and its results 114 

CHAPTER XIV. 

the sentence upon eve. 
Not on Eve alone — Woman more religious than man. Spiritual 
interests — A blessing to the race — mothers — Crowning virtue.. 124 

CHAPTER XV. 
labour. 
Ground cursed; yet labour needful — Weeds, kc, employment, 
and toil — Scriptural generalization — Agriculture represents all 
labour. Toil — Not purely a curse — Honourable industry 130 

CHAPTER XVI. 

DEATH. 

Is man mortal by constitution ? Various pains and ills: wars: 
violence: &c 140 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CURSE UPON THE RACE. 

PAGE 

Evils upon all men. Universal sinfulness, and connected with 
Adam — Scripture statements — Dr. Dwight's arguments — Sinful 
by nature as truly as rational — Entire depravity. Meaning of 
total depravity — Facts — Philosophy — We must classify facts — 
Providential as well as Biblical — Explanations not fully 

satisfactory. The Scriptural solution superior 148 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 

True teachings, and man's conceptions of them — Progress of 
opinion and true science — Astronomy — N. T. truths clearer — 
Practical benefit and theoretical ignorance — Use of laws not 
understood. The early and the late where true, consistent — 
Facts concerning Adam, plain for ages — Adam Representative. 159 

CHAPTER XIX. 

DEFINITION OP TERMS. 

Covenant of works — Federal Head — Imputation — Guilt, 165 

CHAPTER XX. 

WHENCE THE AUTHORITY OF A REPRESENTATIVE? 

Principles of representation familiar — Adam not merely a father 
— Representation just, wise, and needful — Ground of Adam's 
authority — Inquiry respecting choice. Government divine as 
an ordinance. How far in human hands? A legal representa- 
tion of those that voted against and not at all — Divine ap- 
pointment, where it can be ascertained, the best possible basis 
of authority. The /«c< in Adam's case proves the ?%A^ 170 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE COVENANT MADE WITH ADAM — REASONABLE ARGUMENTS. 

Worthy of God's wisdom — Man under law — A covenant changes 
— Advantages — Had Adam stood, the gratitude of the race — 
Difficulties in any view — ** Voluntary nature of man." "Evil 
examples." " Divine constitution.*' No progress made by such 
solutions. A covenant less difficulties and superior advantages. 177 

CHAPT ER XXII. 

THE COVENANT MADE WITH ADAM — SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENTS. 

Genesis — Parties, terms, penalties of covenant — Circumstances all 
consistent with this view. God's usual methods — Covenant 



CONTENTS. 11 

PAGB 

often spoken of — Noah, Abraham, David, &e. Scriptural 
references. Hosea, Corinthians, Romans V. — Infants — 
Adam's one oflfence — Practical influence 187 

CHAPTE R XXIIJ. 

ADAM, THE FIRST AND THE SKCOND. 

Early knowledge of redemption — Adam knew Christ truly — 
Adam and Christ representative — Paul's illustration — Not en- 
tirely alike — Both public persons. Proof. , 196 

CHAPTE R XXIV. 

THE AFFILIATED DOCTRINES. 

Principles implied — Representation — Imputation — Sin and right- 
eousness — Analogies and difi'erences — Federal Headship — Ob- 
jections — Light upon each other 203 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SECOND ADAM GREATER. 

Parallel not complete. The Second greater — Condemnation by 
law. Salvation by grace — Recovery more diflQcult — One and 
many — More than restored — Perplexities — Grounds of faith — 
Precious invitations. Happy they who make this covenant... 208 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

ADAM*S FIRST BORN SONS. 

First parents repentant. Skins of beasts — Paradise left— First 
born — Parental love and dut^^ — Disappointment — Differences 
of character, occupation, worship 218 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE WORSHIP OF CAIN. 

Early worship — Mistake of reason — Man a sinner — Bloody sacri- 
fices — Prophecy — Faith — Revelation and Reason. First 
errorist — Works of righteousne-ss. Woe to the way of Cain... 252 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE REJECTION OF CAIN. 

Results. Fire from heaven — Rage and impenitence — Long- 
suffering mercy — Expostulation. Incrensing sin. Faith — 
Murmuring unprofitable — Convictions lead to God or harden 231 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SACRIFICE OF ABEL. 

PAGK 

Sacrifice — The animals offered: significancy — Ceremonies — 
Honourable confessions. Sympathy with erring — Abel^s 
offering — Blood of sprinkling 237 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE DEATH OF ABEL. 

Gradual separation of the brothers. Men of mature life. A 
hundred years of sin — Dreadful deed — Parental grief — First 
human death — Honour of Abel — Joy in heaven 244 

• CHA PTER XXXI. 

THE CRIMINAL EXPOSED. 

Concealment — Conscience — God speaks. Brother's keeper — 
Falsehood vain — Webster^s speech. Circumstantial evidence 
— Necessary : Satisfactory 252 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 

Cain's apprehensions. Arguing against capital punishments — 
Mosaic laws — Noah and all nations — Public and private deeds — 
We need every safeguard — The Divine Law — Life insecure 260 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE PUNISHMENT OF CAIN. 

Why death remitted to Cain? Disproof of justice — Sovereign 
privilege — Who would execute the penalty? Why fear? 
Conscience 269 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CALLING UPON THE LORD. 

Time softens grief — Seth — Eight generations — Calling upon the 
Lord, Profanity. Prayer — Public worship — Revivals of re- 
ligion — Interest and anxiety. Church and world divided. 
Adam's deep concern 276 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

LONG LIFE. 

Longevity — Adam's adult life — Traditions to Jacob — Life short- 
ened. Gen. vi.-xi. Moral reasons — Would we better prepare 
— One sinner destroyeth much — Time enough. No account 
of Adam's death. Time and eternity 284 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE RELATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT TO THE NEW. 

This word divine, which on the desert sands, 
On Judah's sacred hills, on Babel's plains, 

Was penned by Moses', David's, Daniel's hands ; 
Which precious gospel, righteous law contains, 
And God's great mystery to man explains ; 

Prophetic, promising the woman's seed. 
Historic, telling of his wondrous birth. 

His wondrous words, his death for man's great need, 
Doth by God's Spirit teach the sons of earth, 

And chiefly doth reveal a Saviour's work and worth. 

The words of our Lord Jesus Christ, ''I am not 
come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it,'' are true, 
in a remarkable degree, of the entire Old Testament 
writings. He indeed fulfils the shadowy teachings 
of the ceremonial law. And he also answers many 
of the remarkable predictions made by the ancient 
prophets. Still further, in every just sense of the 
term, he sustains the moral law ; which, in the 
proper use of language, is the law of God. Under that 
2 13 



14 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

law he was voluntarily made, (Gal. iv. 4,) when he 
assumed our nature as the Mediator between God 
and man. His entire life was in obedience to that 
law ; his teachings supported the spirit and prin- 
ciples, the precepts and the penalties of that law ; 
his expiatory death was under the sentence of that 
law ; and, different as his gospel is from the law in 
nature and influence, yet no man ever partakes of 
the blessings of the gospel of Christ, who does not 
approve of the law of God as " holy, and wise, and 
good;" Rom. vii. 12; and who is not cheerfully 
subject to the guidance of the law. Great as are 
the differences between law and grace, they har- 
monize in glorifying the same God, and in demand- 
ing a like holiness ; and a true believer in the gospel 
of Christ is a lover, invariably, of the law of God. 
A teacher who makes the law of perpetual obliga- 
tion ; who vindicates its true teachings from the 
glosses of error ; who honours it in every aspect, 
and that in the most remarkable and illustrious 
manner ; and who is succeeded by a race of disci- 
ples whose purity of doctrine and purity of life 
combine to promote his cause, may justly claim to 
support the law of God. 

But if this is the direct force of our Lord's words, 
it is true also that they mean more. The entire 
Scriptures, as' already in the hands of men, are 
sustained by him, as he fulfils the law. These Old 
Testament writings are neither so clear nor so full 
in their teachings of religious truth, as are the 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 15 

writings of the New Testament. When the Son of 
God is manifest in the flesh, we may look for reve- 
lations in advance of any thing before granted to 
prophets that were merely human. Perhaps some 
minds might anticipate that the New would super- 
sede the Old : that the servants would be allowed 
to step entirely aside since their Lord had come. 
But this would be to overlook the great fact that 
these servants owed their wisdom and authority to 
a Divine commission. With this in view, we may 
rather judge that the teachings of Christ should be 
in full harmony with all that had gone before. Just 
as it is with all the truths we learn in our childhood, 
that they remain true, even when the clearer con- 
ceptions of riper years enable us to know the same 
things better ; just as the earlier astronomers learned 
much of the positions and motions of the heavenly 
bodies, and the telescope enables us in modern times 
to learn more of the same things ; just as, to say 
nothing of the errors and misconceptions in both 
these cases, all the earlier truths are in full harmony 
with the later truths : so, in the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testaments, the revelations of the 
Holy Spirit are all true, and therefore all consistent 
with each other. It may be then that the early 
church did not understand as we do ; it may be that 
the late prophets are superior, and especially so is 
the Lord of all the prophets. But it would be very 
strange to find any contradiction between them, or 
any necessity for repealing the earlier teachings ; 



16 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

since all these teachings are of Divine authority, 
and the earlier servants were sent by the same Lord. 
That they Tvere ignorant of things we now know : 
that they misconceived the meaning, or could not 
understand the meaning of some things they had: 
that they predicted the future less for themselves 
than for us, (1 Peter i. 12,) may all be true, with- 
out implying that the teachings of the New Testa- 
ment are designed to set aside the teachings of the 
Old. 

And it is really found that, taking the Old Tes- 
tament as a whole, Jesus Christ came not to destroy 
but to confirm and establish it. The old economy 
gives place to the new : as we are taught in several 
passages of Paul, Heb. viii.. Gal. iii. But by this 
is meant — not that the Scriptures of the Old Tes- 
tament teach us less than before, or are less profi- 
table for rebuke and instruction — only, that the 
Jewish people no longer stand in the peculiar posi- 
tion assigned to them by the regulations given at 
Sinai, and in the wilderness. The arrangements 
made with them were temporary, till the seed 
should come to whom the promise had been made 
more than four centuries earlier. Gal. iii. 17, 19. 
Yet when we make decided and important advan- 
tages belong to the Christian dispensation as com- 
pared with the Patriarchal and the Mosaic dispen- 
sations, they yet all are difi<erent ages of the same 
church : the same substantial principles, both of 
justice and grace, belong to them all : and the 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 17 

changes are changes of form and development. Ac- 
cordingly we look in vain among the entire teach- 
ings of Christ to find one word uttered against the 
Old Testament Scriptures. When Christ came — 
the greatest and plainest of teachers — he found 
these writings in the possession of the Jews ; and it 
is a great thing for all succeeding times to know 
that he gave to them the full sanction of his ap- 
proval. This approval is both negative and posi- 
tive ; in what he did not say, and in what he did 
say. He found among the Jews many corruptions ; 
and he did not fail to rebuke them plainly and 
boldly. They had perverted many precepts, and 
he corrected their errors. They had added things, 
and he rejected the additions. But they held these 
books in the most profound reverence ; they es- 
teemed them as of Divine inspiration ; they reck- 
oned the very points and letters to make each copy 
as correct as possible ; and he never, on the one 
hand, charged them with having failed in their duty 
towards the sacred text as to its preservation ; nor, 
on the other hand, intimated that there was any 
thing undue or superstitious in the veneration they 
paid to these ancient Scriptures. If we had nothing 
else, the silence of Jesus Christ would be enough to 
maintain among his disciples the same veneration 
for the Old Testament which the Jews of his day 
showed. 

But his approbation was positive also. As he 
never intimates that these writings were held in 
2* 



18 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

undue estimation, or were about to lose the estima- 
tion in which they had been so long held, so he him- 
self puts upon them the same esteem. He read 
these Scriptures publicly in the hearing of the peo- 
ple ; he appealed to them as establishing his own 
claims ; he enjoined upon his hearers to read them, 
without a qualifying word to suggest their waning 
influence ; he constantly assumes the entire correct- 
ness of all their teachings ; he declares that the 
Scriptures cannot be broken ; and, in fact, he builds 
upon the narratives, and laws, and doctrines of the 
Old Testament, the entire structure of the New 
Testament Church. It is a statement not too 
strong by a single word to affirm, that the Old 
Testament writings, as they were held in the hands 
of the Jews in the days of Jesus Christ, have the 
entire sanction of his approbation and authority. 

And, indeed, if the statement fails, it rather does 
so in understating the truth. Not only may we 
challenge any man to point out in the words of 
Christ Jesus, a single declaration that weakens the 
authority of these Scriptures ; not only may we af- 
firm that the New Testament would be an incom- 
plete and fragmentary volume in the absence of the 
Old ; but we may very plainly see that the Old Tes- 
tament is a more instructive volume to us than even 
it was to the former ages. We may understand 
every important thing better than they did, and 
this almost in the same sense that an advanced 
scholar understands the rudiments of any science 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 19 

better than one who is learning the same things for 
the first time. Many truths were clearly taught them, 
as even Jesus Christ gives us no other moral law 
than that which found so clear an exhibition in the 
two stone tables of Sinai. The Decalogue, there- 
fore, stands, and will stand, while time lasts, the 
unchanging expression of human duty. Many things 
were taught them by types and shadows. But we 
can look on these — for example, the sacrifice offered 
by Abel, the Brazen Serpent, or the High Priest's 
Entrance behind the Veil of the Tabernacle — and 
learn quite as much of their spiritual import as did 
they whose eyes actually looked upon these things. 
Many wonderful sights were granted to them ; but 
the bush of the desert burning yet unconsumed; 
the fire from Jehovah's altar touching the prophet's 
lips ; the exposure of three young men to a fiery fur- 
nace without injury, are lessons as useful in our 
times, as in the days of Moses, or Isaiah, or Daniel. 
They had many prophetic declarations which are 
clearer to us, because fulfilled. It is always the 
case in human affairs, that the lessons of history are 
better understood after they are past than while 
they are passing. It is true, that the things now 
occurring upon the earth will be better under- 
stood by our successors than we can understand 
them. Far more fully is it true, that we can under- 
stand the teachings of Old Testament times and Old 
Testament prophets better than they did, who lived, 
before time and succeeding revelations had cleared 



20 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

up its obscurities. But in this conclusion we may 
rest, that the New Testament does not supersede 
the Old; it fills it with new meaning; it makes it a 
more interesting book than ever before ; and we 
will most honour Christ, when we most deeply study 
and most fully understand Moses and the prophets. 
Among all the things written in old times " for 
our learning, that we through patience and comfort 
of the Scriptures might have hope,'' Rom. xv. 4 ; 
our attention seems especially called to the lessons 
of religious experience which these writings contain. 
In a remarkable degree the Scriptures abound in 
brief biographical sketches ; the writers of the New 
Testament repeatedly refer to these and draw les- 
sons from them, as if they would bind both parts 
of the Sacred Book together in one permanent vol- 
ume ; and the interest which men naturally take in 
such writings, has confirmed our faith in the wisdom 
of the inspired writers. From no kind of teaching 
do men usually learn more than from narratives, or 
biography, embodying important principles. Nor 
need we suppose that an example must be thoroughly 
good in order to be profitable. On the contrary, 
the mistakes of good men, the sins of men from 
whom we had expected better things, and the cor- 
ruptions of the vilest men may be instructive as 
matters of record, if only we are clearly able to re- 
cognize the right and wrong as such. All past his- 
tory owes its importance to the truth, that the men 
of former times were just such men as we ourselves 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 21 

are ; possessing like minds, influenced by like mo- 
tives, and subject to like passions. We can make 
allowance for the circumstantial differences of age, 
intelligence, cultivation, and necessity ; but human 
nature has been ever the same. So in the lessons 
of the Old Testament, man has ever been the same, 
and the operations of Divine grace to renew and 
sanctify the soul, have been the same. The differ- 
ence between one age and another is circumstantial ; 
the agreement is substantial. The same God, the 
same law, the same grace, the same sinfulness, have 
been known from Adam until now ; and the superior 
clearness with which we read these lessons, cannot 
make false what was formerly true, nor useless 
what once was profitable. It is just, then, for us 
to look upon the generations of past time and to 
learn from them the same lessons we learn from liv- 
ing men. There is no such difference in the nature 
of man, no such change in the dealings of God, as 
can make obsolete the teachings aforetime given to 
instruct the Church. It is, rather, our superior ad- 
vantage to learn lessons from the entire Bible — the 
Old and New Testaments — having the same God for 
their Author, the same truth for their contents; 
consistent in all their teachings, purifying in all 
their tendencies. 



22 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER II. 

OLD TESTAMENT BIOGRAPHIES. 

*< Part not with these old names. . See how they shine 
In these old heavens, like stars, whose rays no age 
Can dim, nor boastful art of man supplant 
By lights, the invention of his fruitful skill." 

BONAR. 

The current proverb. Example is more powerful 
than precept, applies as well to former ages as to 
present times. Men always take less interest in 
abstract principles than they do in the character 
formed upon such principles, and the conduct flow- 
ing from them. History and biography are merely 
the written examples of former times. Thus only 
can we have any faithful knowledge of those who 
have passed ofl" the stage of action. We cannot see 
them. They are gone. But we can learn of them 
through the written page ; we can almost recall 
their times and scenes ; and all the generations 
past, though dead, yet speak to us. It is important 
that we should learn to interpret properly the les- 
sons they impart. We must look upon these men 
of the past, just as we now think and judge of men 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 23 

that are living. Bad men live around us, and bad 
men have lived before us. Even their examples 
may be profitable, if we see their wrong and shun 
it. Good men have now, and always have had, their 
imperfections and their sins, often amounting to the 
most lamentable departures from truth and duty. 
We may still say with Solomon, " there is not,'' — 
and one illustrious example excepted — there has not 
been, " a just man upon earth, that doeth good and 
sinneth not.'' All faithful biography is the biography 
of men of like passions with ourselves ; of men in 
like circumstances, trials, and temptations. We 
want to see them, therefore, just as they were ; or 
just as we would see them, if they lived and moved 
around us. We have often heard it said, that the 
best daguerreotypes are those where a man has come 
before the artist in his every-day clothes, and taken 
his seat carelessly without much thought upon the 
matter. It is easy to see why this is so. We get 
our friend as we are accustomed to see him, and 
everything is natural. But when a man dresses 
himself carefully, puts himself in his best position, 
and tries to appear to the best advantage, we get a 
picture just like that — for the instrument is faithful — 
but still it is stately and artificial, not at all a just 
likeness of the man we usually see. The great 
fault of the writers of biography is just like this. 
They usually become eulogists. They palliate the 
faults, and magnify the virtues of their heroes. They 
dress them in fine clothes, and put them in artificial 



M ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

positions. If there is a scar on the cheek, they 
give you a side view ; if he is lame, they avoid a 
full length picture. You see the man as he appears 
before the artist, and not as he has been wont to ap- 
pear before the world. But take the flour off the 
miller, and the leather apron off the blacksmith, and 
you hardly recognize them. 

The Bible is a book of biography, because infinite 
wisdom has adapted it to our instruction. But we 
ought not to suppose that the characters of men as 
recorded in the Bible are any better than those re- 
corded in other books. From the remarks just 
made, we ought to expect that they would be rather 
worse than in ordinary biographies. For if these 
writers are divinely inspired, they must tell us the 
truth, and in its plainest forms. Let us not take 
up the idea that infallibility of truth in the record 
implies that the words and conduct recorded must 
therefore be correct. Let us rather judge that 
these sacred writers, above all others, will tell the 
faults as plainly as the virtues of men whose mem- 
oirs they prepare for us. It is a great mistake to 
make objection to the inspired volume because it re- 
cords the sins of men like Adam, Noah, Abraham, 
and David. For the record of these sins is proof 
of excellency in the biographer. The Divine artist 
not only gives us a truthful picture, but he places 
the man before us in an every-day dress and atti- 
tude. Thus our idea is better of what the man was; 
and the effect is better for our instruction. If these 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 25 

men were represented as without faults, we would 
reject the narratives as overwrought or incredible ; 
or we would regard them as quite out of our sphere. 
Just because the Bible records human history, its 
characters are represented as men ; because they 
sinned, we are told they did; and the circumstances 
that attend their lives are just such as we should 
expect in their respective ages. Men who lived in 
a rude age are represented as rude ; those who had 
but the dawn of revealed religion should not appear 
to walk in the same light which Christianity shed 
on the world long after they left it. 

It is by no means an easy thing to decide what 
allowances we should justly make for the follies and 
errors of other ages. The law of Grod is unchange- 
able in its spirit and in its demands from age to 
age ; and ever since God placed man upon the earth, 
his conscience has discerned the difference between 
wrong and right. And men have always known 
what they ought to do in some matters. Fraud, 
and falsehood, and impurity, and violence have 
never been right ; and men have always known this. 
Wilful transgression of a known and recognized 
law, is to be so judged in every age. But we know 
very well that the consciences of men are often 
much influenced by the circumstances in which they 
are placed ; and the amount of a man's guilt is in- 
creased or diminished by the light he had. One 
hundred years ago, men of high standing in the 
Christian Church engaged in the slave trade, used 



26 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and sold intoxicating liquors, and stood aside from 
efforts to promote missions to the heathen, to an ex- 
tent that would ruin the Christian reputation of any 
man who would do the like things now. But we 
judge of them with due allowance for the faults and 
errors of their age. It may not be an easy thing 
to decide how much allowance to make for such 
things. But we get a false view of the past, if we 
do not remember this. For he is a very remarkable 
man who rises much above the spirit of the times in 
which he lives. 

We have said that it is more profitable for us, 
that the men spoken of in the Scriptures should be 
represented in their natural characters. We learn 
most when we read of men like ourselves. We are 
to be followers of them who through faith and pa- 
tience inherit the promises. When we see that 
men of imperfect piety have been accepted of God, 
we are not utterly disheartened if our own piety is 
imperfect. It encourages our trials of patience that 
the long trials of Abraham found their reward. 
We sin against God; we wander from the path of 
duty; we need encouragement to return. How 
dark would be our way, how hopeless our thoughts, 
if there was no recorded instance of sin in any of 
God's children, or of his mercy shown to a back- 
slider ! In these sacred histories we read the re- 
cords of our brethren; the records of God's for- 
bearance and tender mercy ; the records of just 
such a church as exists around us ; the records that 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 27 

are exactly suited for every lesson of warning and 
encouragement, according to our necessities. 

Not only are these scriptural portraits truthful, 
but they are placed in the right attitude; are 
clothed in the proper dress ; and are surrounded by 
natural circumstances. And these things are all 
^'written for our learning, that we through patience 
and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.'' 
Bom. XV. 4. 



28 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER in. 

THE FIRST MAN. 

** He, moulded by his Maker into man, 
At once upstood, intelligent, surveyed 
All creatures; with precision understood 
Their purport, uses, properties ; assigned 
To each his name significant, and filled 
With love and wisdom, rendered back to heaven 
In praise harmonious the first air he drew." 

COWPER. 

The well written life of any man might profit a 
serious reader. This does not mean that every 
man's history is equally valuable. The lives of 
some men possess special interest. They have held 
some important place in history ; uttered excellent 
sentiments ; done great things ; or exerted a large 
influence upon their own and other generations. 

In the lives of few men could mankind have a 
more general interest than in that of the first father 
of our race. It is indeed a long distance to look 
back to Adam. Nearly five thousand years have 
passed away since he laid his venerable head in the 
dust from which he sprung ; generation after gen- 
eration of his children has filled the earth with 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 29 

their joys and their sorrows, and has submitted to 
the same stroke of inexorable death. Yet Adam 
can never be forgotten. Even to us and to genera- 
tions yet unborn, the institutions that began with 
Adam are passing down as blessings ; and a far 
and deep rolling tide of the swelling waters of sor- 
row, let in upon us by his rash hand, has submerged 
all intervening generations, and shall yet dash its 
mighty surges against the most distant shores of 
time. There should be a precedence of interest to 
us in the life and character of the first man. If 
influence upon the race gives interest to the race, 
we should all wish to know as much as possible of 
Adam and of his relations to us. The recorded in- 
cidents of his life are few, though, if we reckon his 
adult years, we may regard his as the longest life 
of which we know. But the paucity of events is 
compensated by peculiar interest. 

"Adam," says the Evangelist Luke, "was the son 
of God." That is, being the first of the race, he 
and our first mother were formed by God's direct 
agency. We may easily judge therefore that he 
was a perfect man ; just what a man should be. 
God pronounced him very good. His body then 
was well formed, strong, and healthy : his mind ma- 
ture, active, and even intelligent ; and his afi*ectionS5 
and his conscience ready to respond to all the holy 
demands of God's moral law. It seems unreason- 
able to think that God's crowning work of six days' 
creation was an overgrown child ; having a man's 



30 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

physical powers and a child's intelligence. Adam 
was not helpless and dependent as an infant now is. 
He was finite, but he was intelligent. He knew 
God his Creator ; he knew his relations and duties 
to him ; and when Eve was formed, his relations 
and duties to her. This is what is meant when it 
is said, he had the law of God written upon hig 
heart. And when we are told in the New Testa- 
ment that every regenerated soul of man is re- 
newed in knowledge after the image of Him that 
created him, it seems implied that man was origin- 
ally created in the knowledge of his Maker. 

And God made man upright. He was not only 
a moral being, but a holy being. God looked upon 
him and declared that he was very good. The 
works of God are good because they serve the end 
for which he made them. As in human afi*airs, a 
watch is good when it keeps good time, and though 
some watches are of more costly materials, yet 
every watch is good if it truly serves this end, so 
in Divine matters. The sun is a good creature of 
God when it fills the place for which God designed 
it ; a tree is good when it brings forth the fruit it 
was designed to bear ; and man, who was to glorify 
God by the holiness of his character, can be called 
good only when he is truly holy. As it is impos- 
sible for us to conceive of Adam as neither holy nor 
unholy, so we must believe that he was a holy being, 
as God at first created him. 

And as God made man at the first, he was an 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 31 

immortal creature in his whole person. We have 
no just reason to think that death would ever have 
touched man if Adam had not sinned. We do not 
inean by this that the lower orders of creatures 
would never have died ; nor that Adam would have 
been incapable of all pain and suffering ; nor that 
he would always have remained on earth. But the 
occurrence of death to beasts that have no immor- 
tal part is a different thing from its occurrence to 
man. Doubtless the creatures are subject to various 
evils through the sin of man, while yet they would 
have still been mortal had man never transgressed. 
Doubtless Adam himself, even in his estate of inno- 
cence, might have felt the pangs of hunger and 
fatigue, for these seem inseparable from the capacity 
to eat and to sleep. Doubtless also this earth was 
never designed for the permanent home of man. 
But we may judge that, after an allotted time upon 
the earth, Adam would have passed away in the 
body, as did Enoch and Elijah in after years. The 
fact that two men — sinful men — have left the earth 
without dying, is abundant proof of the possibility, 
that had man remained holy, this would have been 
the usual method of his transfer from earth to 
heaven. This at least is certain, that death to man 
is a judicial sentence, and the fruit of sin. " By 
one man sin entered into the world, and death by 
sin ; and so death passed upon all men for that all 
have sinned." As God made Adam, he was in soul 
and in body an immortal creature. 



32 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

Many thoughts have been uttered in the solution 
of this question, How was man made in the image 
of God ? As God is a pure Spirit, so this language 
cannot at all refer to man's bodily form. Yet there 
are several things which together make up the full 
force of the expression. As God is a Spirit, so is 
man in his superior part ; God is intelligent, so is 
man ; God is ever existing, man is immortal ; God 
is the universal ruler, man has dominion over the 
earth ; God is holy, so was man made. And though 
this chief excellency of man was lost, yet man has 
not so lost the image of God, but that he still pos- 
sesses a conscience, and remains a moral being. Sin 
darkens and defiles the conscience, warps its judg- 
ments, and makes its actings sluggish; and even 
seems almost to sear it and to destroy all healthy 
action. But the result of totally destroying the 
conscience in man, even ignorance and wickedness 
cannot entirely reach. Man can discern the dis- 
tinction of right and wrong, and approves and con- 
demns himself in all he is or does. This is a dis- 
tinguishing and essential characteristic; and by 
this man is separated from the brute creation, by 
an impassable barrier. Thought, memory, afi^ection, 
and will, to a limited extent, brutes have ; but 
neither have they, nor can education impart to 
them, a conscience. 

Many misconceptions exist upon this subject, and 
this is a common opinion, " that if conscience is an 
essential part of man's nature, every conscience 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 33 

ought to dictate the same decisions/* But even if 
men were placed in circumstances exactly similar, 
it is a mistake to suppose that conscience is the 
power of making infallible decisions. As man's 
memory is not perfect, nor his understanding al- 
ways right, so his conscience is not infallible. In- 
form two men of the facts in any case ; set them 
free from all bias, and let them carefully consider 
it; and even then they may differ in judgment. 
The judgments of conscience pertain to moral mat- 
ters ; but there is the same need of instruction, of 
impartiality, and of due consideration. The chief 
differences in the decisions of the human conscience 
arise from ignorance, prejudice, and passion. Cer- 
tainly this would be a better world if every man 
would deal faithfully, and do justly, and speak 
truthfully as well as he might be able to do. 



34 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ADAM IN PARADISE. 

** Oh, happy pair, 
Lords of fair Eden's blooming range, where earth, 
Benignant parent, from her verdant lap 
Spontaneous poured her bounteous sweets, and gave 
"Whate'er could minister delight." 

Hayes. 

Man, as he came from the hands of his Creator, 
•was a glorious and happy being. God was his 
Father and his Friend ; and in God and in his works 
Adam found constant delight. In kind care for 
him, God planted a garden eastward in Eden. The 
"whole earth was then beautiful. Beautiful scenery, 
and fruitful trees, and fragrant flowers, and joyous 
living things were everywhere around him. 

But Eden was earth's fairest garden-spot; more 
beautiful for situation than other spots, more fertile, 
better planted, better watered. He that made 
man's eye knew what prospects could charm it ; he 
that formed man's ear knew every sound of natural 
melody ; he that gave taste to man knew what food 
would gratify it ; and all these things, we doubt not, 
he gathered about the garden. The name "Eden" 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 3i5 

signifies pleasantness or pleasure ; and to a con- 
tented mind this was a spot of peace and delight. 

As the Scriptures use the word ''Paradise" to sig- 
nify that garden and also heaven itself, so, doubt- 
less, it bore some resemblance to heaven. Life 
breathed in its air, life flowed in its streams, life 
bloomed and ripened in its fruits, life was the pro- 
mised reward of its holy labours. How glorious 
was man in Eden; lord, but not tyrant of all; king 
in a realm of peace, and order, and happiness ; a 
priest to offer sweet thanksgivings to the Almighty ; 
no dangers threatened from disease or death ; peace- 
ful within, safe around; formed for endless honour, 
endless improvement, endless usefulness; angels his 
friends, God his visitor ! And all these blessings, 
had Adam remained in holiness, he would have 
transmitted to countless millions ; who, inheriting 
from him peace, and righteousness, and blessedness, 
would have held him in everlasting honour.* 

Yet this perfection of man was necessarily the 
perfection of a finite creature. We may notice 
several things to show the limits of his condition. 

1. Man was liable to fall. He was capable of 
standing, but free to sin. Absolute incapability of 
change belongs only to God himself. Adam, of his 
own nature, could not be unchangeable in holiness. 
Some suppose that a free creature must of necessity 
be liable to sin ; and that even God cannot prevent 
a free creature from sinning. A most dreadful 
^ Dwight's Theology, i. 349. 



'S6 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

doctrine, the truth of which must forbid God to 
promise everlasting life; and must prevent the very 
inhabitants of heaven from having any assurance 
of their continued standing ! We, rather, believe 
that God can establish a free being in holiness and 
happiness. But he placed Adam in an estate of 
probation, with power to keep the law of God, but 
liable to transgress it. 

2. God placed him in the garden to till the 
ground. Doubtless the labour of Adam before the 
fall, was exempt from the toilsome, laborious, and 
often fruitless exertion which men must often now 
put forth. " In the sweat of thy face thou shalt 
eat bread," is a part of the curse afterwards given. 
Labour in Paradise w^as occupation rather than toil ; 
employment that was pleasant and healthful to soul 
and body, rather than an irksome task. And, if 
Adam, even then, needed labour for his happiness, 
let us learn that some useful occupation is far more 
needful now for every man, if he would be happy in 
the enjoyment of life, or if he would keep himself 
from being a useless, indeed a pernicious member 
of society. It is impossible for any man to be 
blessed in himself or a blessing to others, who has 
not something to do. "The great secret" of keep- 
ing the heart, says Bishop Home, " is employment. 
An empty house is everybody's property. All the 
vagrants about the country will take up their quar- 
ters in it. Always, therefore, have something to 
do, and you will always have something to think 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 37 

about. God has placed every person in some sta- 
tion, and every station has a set of duties belonging 
to it." Adam was not idle in Paradise ; and idle- 
ness still less becomes us. 

3. God put bounds upon the liberty of Adam. 
He was free, but not lawless. He must be reminded 
that he w^as a dependent being. Lord of all he saw, 
he must be reminded that he was subject to God's 
government. God forbade him to eat of one tree, 
to remind him of his subjection. This tree also no- 
tified Adam that he was liable to fall. It was a 
kind and a perpetual warning : " Beware, lest thou 
depart from God." Besides, it shows man that the 
highest kind of happiness is to be found in the en- 
joyment of God himself. Earthly things cannot 
satisfy the soul of man. " There was a want even 
in Paradise," says the excellent Boston, ''so that 
the forbidden- tree was, in efi*ect, the hand of all 
creatures, pointing men away from themselves ; it 
was the sign of emptiness, hung out before the door 
of creation, with this inscription, ' This is not your 
rest.' "* 

And here we may say that if God made it a law 
even in Paradise, when man was yet in his inno- 
cence, that he should deny his natural appetites ; if 
self-denial was the law of Eden, how much more 
proper is it for sinful man, whose appetites and pas- 
sions have irregular and morbid cravings, to set due 
bounds to them, and even for wholesome purposes, 

* Fourfold State. 
4 



88 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

to abstain from lawful indulgences ! It is a senti- 
ment of infidelity, and not of piety, that the very 
existence of an appetite is the Divine allowance 
that a man may indulge it. It never was true, 
even when man was holy ; and it is much less true 
now, when man's selfish passions so often destroy 
himself and others. Self-denial was an element of 
piety in man unfallen ; much more must every man 
now deny himself, both to mortify sin, and to do 
good to others. We are called unto liberty, but 
liberty itself must be wisely used. And we may 
often adopt the noble sentiment of Paul, "If meat 
make my brother to ofi'end, I will eat no meat while 
the world stands." And it is plainly evident, from 
the fact that God made Adam stand back from this 
tree, that the self-denials required of us may be no 
abridgment of our pure enjoyment. Adam was 
perfectly happy, and might have continued so, if 
he had not tasted of the forbidden tree. Indeed, 
the service of God is true happiness and all the 
pleasures we think to gain by disobedience will prove 
delusive. And we may extend the principle further 
than to the things directly required of us by the 
commands of God. When our Lord says, " It is 
more blessed to give than to receive,'' he directs our 
thoughts to this important principle of our nature, 
that whatever pleasure we find in the gratification 
of ourselves is inferior in its nature and short-lived 
in its influence, when compared with the enjoyment 
we receive from efforts to do good to others. In 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 89 

truth, let our self-denials be of what kind they may, 
we receive longer and better pleasure from denying 
ourselves for any righteous end. If we restrain 
our appetites from constant indulgence, we enjoy 
more the gratifications we do have ; and if we spend 
ourselves or our substance in doing good to others, 
we have the highest pleasure in reflecting upon this. 



40 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE GARDEN AND ITS TREES. 

** It was a place 
Chosen by the sovereign planter when he formed 
All things to man's delightful use." 

Milton. 

Many opinions have been formed respecting the 
situation of the garden of Eden, and it might grat- 
ify curiosity, but it would secure very little profit, 
to consider these at any length. Yet this brief 
statement may be made, that the site of the gar- 
den has been variously fixed in every quarter of 
the globe, and even outside of the globe. Some 
have indeed supposed, that all the landmarks of the 
ancient w^orld were obliterated by the flood ; and 
that therefore it is in vain that we attempt to iden- 
tify the spot from the description in Genesis. 
Others judge, that the Jewish historian speaks of 
the rivers and the surrounding country as they ex- 
isted when he wrote ; and that therefore we may 
attempt to find the situation of the garden. Doubt- 
less the deluge did make great changes in the chan- 
nels of rivers and in the face of the country in va- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 41 

rious ways ; yet we may reasonably suppose that 
the historian designs to give information by his 
terms of description. But those who so understand 
Moses, have had no agreement among themselves. 
In all the four quarters of the earth ; in Syria, 
Babylonia, Tartary, China, Austria, Palestine, Mes- 
opotamia, Armenia, Ceylon, Ethiopia, Prussia, Nor- 
way, and Siberia, has the site of the garden been 
fixed by various persons ; and some, according to 
the testimony of Dr. Adam Clarke, have even 
placed it within the orbit of the moon, or in the 
moon itself. The celebrated Cardinal Bellarmine 
held the opinion that the garden of Eden yet exists 
in some unknown portion of the earth ; and that 
there Enoch and Elijah were taken when they were 
carried away in the body : but this view was not 
even adopted by the theologians of his own church.* 
But it is not needful to pursue this matter. 

The opinion most generally adopted, as agreeable 
to a reasonable view of the scriptural testimony, is, 
that Paradise was situated in Armenia ; and that 
Moses designs to point out the well-known rivers, 
Tigris and Euphrates, as the streams that watered 
the garden. Yet the situation is, after all, of very 
little importance ; and the conjectures of learned 
men serve rather to throw perplexity upon the mat- 
ter than to settle the simple question. 

But whatever may have been the size or the posi- 
tion of the garden, it was a Paradise planted by 

^ See Turrettine, i. 528 
4« 



42 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

God for the happy abode of man. And God placed 
in it every tree that could add beauty to the scenery 
or provide food for man. We need not be surprised 
that Adam should live entirely upon vegetable food, 
or that there is no evidence of the use of animal 
food in the early ages. In the most densely inhab- 
ited parts of the earth even now, animal food is 
little used. Populous nations live entirely on the 
fruits of the earth. It is forbidden by the religion 
of some tribes to take life ; and only in the coldest 
climates does the use of flesh seem a necessity. A 
grant was made to Noah to use the flesh of animals, 
accompanied by a restriction, which, we believe upon 
New Testament authority, is still in force, that no 
blood should be eaten. (Compare Gen. ix. 4, with 
Acts XV. 29.) To Adam the fruits of the earth 
were for food. 

So the large and fruitful garden was filled with 
every kind of food for the support and the health- 
ful gratification of its happy occupants. Fields of 
cereals waved in the summer's wind ; heavy ladened 
boughs of mellow fruits hung within their reach ; 
vines ran along the ground or climbed up to hang 
their tempting clusters on the friendly trees ; and 
each season provided its variety and abundance, 
that man might eat for himself, or might enjoy the 
happiness which the creatures around him received 
from the full bounty of their common Creator. 

Special mention is made of two trees in Eden. 
The tree of life grew in the midst of the garden; 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 43 

and there was also the tree of knowledge of good 
and evil. It is needless to inquire whether two 
species, or two single trees are meant ; nor need we 
do more than mention a few opinions as to the na- 
ture of the trees. The tree of knowledge of good 
and evil, the Mohammedans declare was wheat ; 
Christians generally take it for an apple ; some 
Jews say the vine, and others the fig, and add that 
from its leaves our first parents made aprons to 
cover their nakedness. This much only we know, 
that this tree was of beautiful appearance, and its 
fruit could be eaten. God gave it a place in Eden 
for the trial of man's obedience ; to remind him of 
his subjection; to warn him of his liability to fall; 
and to point him to himself as the true source of 
his enjoyment. The influence upon man was moral. 
It was true then as always, ^'Not that which enter- 
eth into the mouth defileth the man.'' By God's 
appointment this tree indicated man's moral condi- 
tion. If he obeyed God and refrained from the 
tree, he knew the benefits of obedience ; if he trans- 
gressed, he knew the evils of disobedience. The 
whole account is to be taken, not as an allegory, 
but as a sacramental record. The tree was an 
eternal sign of things spiritual. So has God ever 
taught man, both before and since the fall. The 
name of the tree gave solemn warning of that ex- 
perimental acquaintance with evil that would surely 
follow his partaking of it : the tree was placed be- 
fore his eyes to show that man was free to stand or 



44 ADAM AND HIS TIxMES. 

fall upon his own choice ; while the fact that there 
was but a single tree, surrounded by so large an 
abundance, made the inducement to trangress God's 
will as slight as any scene of probation could make 
it. 

The tree of life was, doubtless, also sacramental. 
We cannot judge that the physical virtues of any 
food could bestow everlasting life. This tree was a 
sign and symbol of life to obedient man. This tree 
is elsewhere mentioned in the Bible ; and is said to 
be also in the Paradise of God above. There are 
not wanting reasons for believing that the tree of 
life was a symbol of our Lord Jesus Christ. Un- 
fallen man did not, indeed, need him as a Mediator 
or a Saviour, but the Second Person of the God- 
head was not unknown in Eden. Christ is the true 
tree of life to sinners ; but we find no access if we 
come in the same way, and with the same hopes, as 
Adam. So long as man was innocent, he had free 
access to life ; but as sinners we must approach in 
penitence and faith, through the new and living way 
opened up to us. Heb. x. 19, 20. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 45 



CHAPTER VI. 

MARRIAGE AS GIVEN IN EDEN. 

** Across the threshold led, 
And every tear kissed off as soon as shed, 
His house she enters ; there to be a light 
Shining within, when all without is night ; 
A guardian angel o'er his life presiding, 
Doubling his pleasures and his cares dividing." 

KOGERS. 

The first institution of social life was the ordi- 
nance of Marriage ; and God has added none since 
of greater importance, for the purity, usefulness, 
and comfort of the race. And the fact, that the 
subject of marriage, — its importance, influence, and 
obligations, is not often made the theme of deliber- 
ate instruction, may justify its larger consideration 
on these pages than would otherwise seem suitable. 
It seems certainly true, that more things are delib- 
erately said, in our communities, against the true 
ordinance of marriage, than should be allowed to 
pass without rebuke ; and yet the chief instructions 
given are casual and incidental, rather than chosen 
and well-considered. Doubtless there are persons 



4d ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of mature age among us, who can say that they 
have never listened to a single public discourse, that 
was designed to explain this Divine ordinance. 
Yet surely there have been corruptions enough, 
from the earliest ages, from the vile passions of 
men, from infidelity, and even from the deliberate 
expression of religious tenets, to call forth just ex- 
positions of the law of God upon this especial point. 
It is of the greatest importance to human welfare, 
that just views of marriage should be entertained, 
and we do not need to go beyond the record in 
Genesis, to receive the most important hints upon 
the subject ; though, indeed, it will be wise for us, 
to interpret these simple statements by the further 
light thrown upon them in all the word of God. 

It is a great thing to know, in the beginning of 
our thoughts, that marriage is an ordinance of God. 
The Divine Creator having made man, and placed 
him upon the earth, thought it not good that he 
should be alone. So he caused a deep sleep to fall 
upon Adam, and from a rib of his side he formed 
Eve, the first woman, and brought her to the man, 
and Adam received her as his wife. And not only 
was marriage thus instituted by God, in man's pri- 
meval age of innocence, but when the glorious Son 
of God, — who, even in Paradise, was the Revealer 
of the Godhead, — appeared on earth in our nature, 
he gave his personal public attendance at a marriage 
in Cana of Galilee, and took occasion to work there 
the first of that splendid series of miracles, by 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 47 

which he proved himself the Messiah of God.* 
This is the first great thought upon the subject : 
Marriage is no device of human expediency, to be 
taken up, or thrown off, at the whim of man. It is 
an ordinance of God ; only properly assumed, when 
regard is had to his will ; only properly maintained, 
when the laws which he has given for it are known 
and regarded. 

The Scriptures teach us, here and elsewhere, that 
marriage is to be between one man and one woman. 
Human iniquity, in many lands, and for many ages, 
has corrupted this arrangement. Instances have 
been known, where one woman has been the wife 
of many husbands. f Far more frequently, one 
man has been the husband of many wives. And it 
seems far more strange to know that this great de- 
parture from the original ordinance was tolerated, 
for many ages, even in the Church of God, and in 
the families of patriarchs and prophets. But man's 
utmost neglect or transgression of God's ordinances 
has no effect to change the law itself, or to release 
man from his obligations. The first record of direct 
opposition to the polygamy of the old dispensation, 
we read in the prophecies of Malachi. He not only 
maintains the true law of marriage, but declares 
that the training of the families of men in godliness, 

■5^ James's Eamily Monitor, chap. i. 

f J. C. Lowrie's two years in India, 222. Schlegel says it 
is legally established among the Buddhists. Phil, of Hist. 
Xiect. III. See also Grote's Greece, ii. 38(3.. 



48 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

was the design of God, in ordering that a man 
should have but one wife. It would seem that 
through the expostulations of this prophet, a re- 
formation had been wrought among the Jewish 
people. For though polygamy belonged to every 
period of the Old Testament history, from the times 
of the patriarchs, we find not a trace of it in Judea 
in the New Testament times. The teachings of our 
Lord Jesus Christ are express upon this subject. 
He declares that Moses tolerated a departure from 
the law as originally given, because of the hardness 
of the hearts of men ; but that in the beginning 
God ordained marriage for a single pair. Because 
of this exposition from the lips of Christ, this has 
remained, ever since, the teaching of the Christian 
Church. 

From the account here given, we may learn, that 
marriage is properly founded upon the mutual affec- 
tion of the parties, and is designed for their mutual 
benefit. God said it was not good for man to be alone ; 
and he would make for him a helper, his counter- 
part. 

There are several matters we may notice in 
the language of judicious commentators, who have 
remarked upon them. Dr. Scott says, " Eve was 
taken from Adam, not from the ground, that there 
might be a natural foundation of moderate subor- 
dination on the woman's part, and sympathizing 
tenderness on the man's : as a man rules over, yet 
carefully defends and tenderly takes care of his 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 49 

own body." So Matthew Henry, with forcible 
quaintness, says : " The woman was made of a rib 
out of the side of Adam ; not out of his head to 
top him ; nor out of his feet to be trampled on by 
him ; but out of his side to be equal with him : 
under his arm, to be protected ; near his heart, to be 
beloved." Nor can we easily exhaust the meaning 
of the word, a help-meet. It does not mean that 
Eve was another self for Adam. But it is wisely 
ordered by Providence, that the very differences of 
natural constitution between the sexes, should serve 
for mutual benefit. Man has his strength, woman 
has hers ; man his weaknesses, and woman hers : 
and they are all the better adapted to be mutual 
helpers, because they are not alike. Doubtless our 
readers are familiar with a beautiful passage in the 
waitings of Washington Irving, w^hich has been 
often quoted, in which he speaks of the influence 
of a wife to sustain her husband in times of dejec- 
tion and adversity ; aptly and finely comparing her 
to a vine that clasps its tendrils around a sturdy 
tree, and climbs up upon its strength ; and then 
when the lightning has stricken and splintered the 
tree, the vine seems to bind it together, and to sup- 
port in turn, where it has been supported. And 
there can be no doubt in any thoughtful mind, that 
a happy marriage makes both parties more valuable 
members of society. There is a sense in which a 
man who marries is less independent than before ; 
but he has thus lost a feeling he ought never to 



60 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

have cherished ; and for this very reason he is more 
to be depended upon. Such a man now has others 
to care for besides himself. He has too much at 
stake, he has too many feelings beside his own to 
consult, he has too many interests besides his own 
to secure, to allow him to make reckless movements, 
or to permit him to be careless of things that affect 
the welfare of society. 

Few things are more important for the formation 
of a just character, and the proper discharge of our 
duties, than a sense of our personal responsibility. 
In many respects this is better felt in this relation 
than ever otherwise. The experience which grows 
out of the family relation is needful to form a sym- 
metrical character. On the one hand, there are 
energies brought out for the maintenance and com- 
fort of the household, and there is an economical 
and proper application of the resources, such as we 
do not usually see w^here the motives are wanting, 
which the family relation supplies ; and on the other 
hand, it is only in the family that we learn to exer- 
cise those affections and sympathies that are so 
much needed in a world like this. Truly we may 
repeat the words of Paradise, "It is not good for 
man to be alone.'' By the virtues it originates and 
fosters, we may recognize marriage as a kind ordi- 
nation of God for the preservation, the usefulness, 
and the comfort of the race. 

And surely this record bears upon its face the 
testimony which Paul only more clearly gives us af* 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 51 

terwards, that marriage, thus ordained by God for 
the good of man, is honourable in all. By this is 
not meant that it is obligatory upon all without ex- 
ception ; for circumstances may fully justify indi- 
viduals in remaining unmarried; there may be 
times of perilous persecution, when an apostle, who 
even then does not venture to forbid marriage, may 
pronounce it, for the present distress, inexpedient ; 
and there may be persons who can rightfully pur- 
pose to live single. 

But the Scriptures regard this institution as so 
important, that no unwise restrictions are laid upon 
it ; the estate is holy and honourable. Long before 
this, had celibacy been regarded, in some portions 
of the world, as a peculiar privilege and a holy duty. 
Among the Egyptians, the priests of Isis were bound 
to live unmarried ; in the East, celibacy was hon- 
oured ; and both the Persians and the Romans had 
their vestal virgins, consecrated to their respective 
idolatries. Perhaps the apostle's words refer to 
these ; perhaps he looked forward, by the prophetic 
vision, to greater corruptions, yet to be introduced 
into the Christian Church. ''Forbidding to marry" 
is one of the Scriptural marks of departure from 
the faith, and is especially mentioned by the same 
apostle, when he would foretell the rise and charac- 
teristics and fall of the Church of Rome. And the 
fulfilment of his words, thus far, may be seen in the 
prohibitions of that apostate Church, against the 
marriage of her clergy, and other religious orders ; 



52 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and the wisdom of the Scriptural rule is proved by 
the miserable results of priestly celibacy for ages. 
The standing of the Romish Church, upon the sub- 
ject of marriage, is like her position upon many 
other matters. The professions of that body are, 
in many things, almost as near right as possible ; 
and yet she may have professions, and has practice 
abundant, in the same matters, directly contrary to 
right. Theoretically, she has but one God; practi- 
cally, she has many ; theoretically, God alone re- 
ceives true worship ; practically, more prayers are 
addressed to the Virgin Mary than to Christ; theo- 
retically, almost every orthodox doctrine can be 
found in her creed ; practically, her councils and 
her teachers have introduced an amazing number of 
important errors, to obscure the truth, to cover it 
over, and to prevent its wholesome influence. Upon 
the subject of marriage, the Romish Church exerts 
a wholesome influence, in a single respect, that the 
tie is rendered permanent, and almost indissoluble ; 
but here also appear the contradictory teachings, so 
characteristic of her. On the one hand, she affirms 
that marriage is a solemn sacrament, instituted by 
Christ, and pronounces a fearful curse upon all who 
deny this ; and on the other hand, she peremptorily 
forbids marriage to all her priesthood, and in the 
face of all her members, extols the virtue of per- 
petual chastity, encourages vows for this end, erects 
monasteries and nunneries, and fills them with those 
that are forbidden to marry, and regards these per- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 53 

sons as only the more holy, because they have re- 
frained from the use of this sacrament of the house 
of God ! 

Now directly in opposition to the existing cor- 
ruptions of idolatrous nations all around him, and 
to the prospective corruptions of the great apostasy 
before him, the Apostle Paul returns to the original 
law of Eden, and declares that ''marriage is hon- 
ourable in all." And it is the only effectual pre- 
servative of human happiness and human purity. 
Individual persons, through natural disposition, or 
by the force of righteous principles, may live in 
purity and usefulness without marriage ; but ca- 
lamitous experience has abundantly proved, that no 
large class of persons, taken indiscriminately from 
human society, can be bound to celibacy, without 
producing a state of morals the most miserable and 
corrupt. Prophecy foretells these evils in the 
Church of Rome ; history has written their dark 
records ; and their gloomy shadows fall now upon 
every land where that is the prevailing faith. The 
true and wholesome doctrine is, that marriage is 
sacred, but not a sacrament ; sacred in this sense, 
that its vows are inviolable ; sacred in this, that 
God will judge all that break these solemn obliga- 
tions ; and sacred, that it subserves the most valu- 
able ends to promote righteousness in the earth. 
How well does our great English poet describe it : 

6^ 



64 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

'' By it 
Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, 
Relations dear, and all the charities 
Of father, son, and brother first were known ; 
Far be it that we should write it sin or blame, 
Or think it unbefitting holiest place, 
Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets. "-^^ 

But these thoughts would be too lamentably im- 
perfect, and especially, alas ! too inapplicable to 
growing evils in our times, without adding this im- 
portant principle, that marriage is designed by God 
to be a permanent relationship. There is virtually, 
by Divine permission, a severing of the ties that 
have bound us to an endeared home, from our child- 
hood up ; and one man and one woman, coming 
forth from their several parental homes, solemnly 
vow to cleave to each other, leaving all others for 
each other, forming a new family in the earth, and 
declaring that death only shall separate them. So 
runs the original record : "- Therefore shall a man 
leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave 
unto his wife, and they shall be one flesh." That 
is, by the covenant of marriage, through the ordi- 
nance of God, a man and his wife become kindred 
to each other ; a relationship is formed, as true, and 
more tender and intimate than that between a 
parent and a child; and it can never be sundered, 
but by the death of one party, or by guilt which 
God will avenge. Henceforward these parties are 
to love each other as their ownselves. 
* Paradise Lost, iv. 755. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 55 

It is quite impossible, indeed, that their views and 
wishes should be always alike. However congenial 
their tempers, or however happy their union, no 
two persons can live long together without dif- 
fering in their judgments and desires ; and we may 
expect these differences to be more frequent and 
greater, because of the imperfections and the sinful- 
ness of our nature, as now fallen. 

Marriage does not overlook these things, but is 
wisely adapted to soften down the roughness of our 
characters. And mutual forbearance, and mutual 
affection, and a common purpose to serve the same 
God, and a common interest in the temporal and 
spiritual prosperity of the household, and a wise re- 
gard to the Divine purposes in the discipline of life, 
can even make these diversities work together for 
mutual happiness and mutual benefit. No wise 
parties expect to find perfection in each other, and 
these solemn vows are made with the full knowledge 
that forbearance will be called for. The scriptural 
rule to regulate the whole matter is love. Let a 
man love his wife even as himself. Some things 
are not necessarily included in the love a man has 
for his own body. A man does not need to believe 
that he has a strong body, or a beautiful body, or a 
healthy body ; but it is his body, and he nourishes, 
and cherishes, and loves it as such. And if it be true 
that a man's true love for his wife will make him 
sometimes blind to her imperfections, and always 
lenient to them„, — for charity thinketh no evil, — it 



56 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

is still also true that a man is bound to cherish his 
wife, that a woman is bound to love her husband, 
even as their ownselves, when the warmest affec- 
tion cannot overlook most grievous and serious de- 
ficiencies. It is manifest that the severest tests of 
conjugal affection are not found in those evils which 
we class among the imperfections of our nature. 
Sin, which renders the law of marriage more need- 
ful, has brought in, also, many and severer tests to 
try its strength. When these parties, in the bloom 
and promise of their youth, stand together, before 
the God who made them, and surrounded by a circle 
of affectionate friends, who are all to be drawn 
nearer together by these new cords of love, who 
can possibly foretell the events that lie in their 
common pathway for perhaps fifty years in advance ! 
How many changes in views, in conduct, in char- 
acter, may a brief period reveal ? The poor may 
become rich, or the rich poor ; strength may change 
to weakness, health to disease, and cheerfulness to 
fretful repinings. But these are not the worst 
changes. The bright morning of wedded life, 
dawning without a cloud, and with the cheerful mel- 
ody of nature's sweetest harmonies, has too often, 
before noon, clouded over with the dark shadows, 
through which even hope can scarcely look, beneath 
whose muttering thunders every happy song is 
silenced, and from which the setting of life's sun is 
often a relief. How often, in the sad experience 
of many a happy household, has Intemperance, like 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. ST: 

the subtle serpent, gliding into Paradise for the ruin 
of the first family of man, entered into the Eden 
where youth and virtue dwelt, to present those at- 
tractive and dangerous indulgences that have no 
better symbol than in the first forbidden tree. But 
it is not needful, in our present thoughts, to describe 
the evils that do sometimes spring up in earthly 
households, that cannot be wholly anticipated by 
the wisest foresight, and that the warmest affection 
cannot ward off. Justice requires us to say that 
marriage does more to keep such evils from springing 
up, and to repress and to correct them, than 
any other influence exerted in society. But when 
either party becomes idle, improvident, or vicious, 
there is the same duty incumbent upon the other 
party to forbear with them, and to follow them with 
earnest and affectionate efforts to reclaim their de- 
clining steps, which is universally recognized as the 
duty of parents toward erring children. How deep 
is the grief of a fond father and a tender mother 
for the wanderings of a beloved son ! How long do 
they refuse to believe the proofs of guilt that are too 
plain for other eyes ! what sacrifices of time, and 
money, and feelings will they not make, while there 
is any hope of reformation ! how kindly do they in- 
terpret the feeblest kindlings of repentance ! and 
how thankfully do they receive the returning pro- 
digal to their warmest embraces ! But the relation 
of husband and wife is more close and tender than 
that of parent and child. These parties have left 



68 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

their parents for each other : and it is the natural 
order of Providence that their children shall leave 
them, and then they are still to cleave to each other. 
In this world of sin this tie must hold, not to apol- 
ogize for sin, or to make a common cause for its 
promotion, but to clog the footsteps of the sinner, 
and by love's strong influences to draw him back, 
if possible, to the paths of virtue. The wilful, 
resolute, irreparable separation of one party, leaves 
the other free to seek by proper means a dissolution 
of the bond : especially unfaithfulness to marriage 
engagements is a just ground for divorce : but apart 
from these two things, the covenant of marriage is 
not to be broken by any calamities providentially oc- 
curring to either, by any misconduct not involving 
a breach of the marriage law, nor by any difficulties 
between the parties, the most numerous, and serious, 
and onerous to bear. As a man cherishes his own 
body, though sometimes his flesh becomes feeble 
and diseased, and even loathsome, because it is his 
body, so must these parties love and cherish each 
other. It is a great trust which one human being 
commits to another, when these mutual pledges of 
lifelong love are made. 

Many may feel disposed to say, as even the 
disciples of Christ said when their Lord gave just 
such teachings, '' If the case of a man be so with 
his wife, it is good not to marry.'' Matt. xix. 10. 
But a juster and wiser view of the great interests 
of society, and of the actual workings of Provi- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 59 

dence, will vindicate the Divine rule. Facts will 
prove that where the Divine law is regarded, the 
marriage relation is usually happy. We wonder to 
see the changes it makes ; transforming the timid, 
trifling, volatile girl into the self-possessed, dig- 
nified, useful matron ; changing the pleasure-loving, 
reckless man into the provident, thoughtful, con- 
servative citizen. And it is so important for the 
training and happiness of the children, for the com- 
fort and usefulness of the parties themselves ; and 
for the purity and well-being of society, that mar- 
riage should be indissoluble ; the amount of wretch- 
edness that must come in upon the innocent and the 
guilty in every case of separation is so great ; the 
cases are so numerous where the sacredness of the 
relation tends to settle the difficulties that might 
otherwise become serious ; the cases are so rare in 
comparison where plausible reasons for a separation 
can be found, that the only safe and proper ground 
for the relation is that taken in the Scriptures. 
If to consider this tie as indissoluble, makes it 
a more serious thing to assume the vows of mar- 
riage ; if more serious thoughts should precede en- 
gagements of this nature ; if a more thorough ac- 
quaintance with each other should be thought wise 
in those who are to be united for life ; and if a true 
affection for each other is the only proper basis of 
such a union ; surely these tendencies are eminently 
for the good of the parties and of society. We may 



60 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

easily judge that Divine wisdom designed that such 
influences should flow from his ordinance. 

The value of the Scriptural ordinance of mar- 
riage may appear from the virulence with which 
wickedness has opposed and perverted it. Human 
corruption cannot spread widely without perverting 
marriage. The first result is the degradation of the 
female sex ; for though it is true, that woman al- 
ways drags man down with her when she falls, it is 
also true that the heaviest curses of corruption of 
manners and of civil misrule, always fall on her 
hapless head. The condition of woman in all lands 
where the Bible is not, is itself a suflicient vindica- 
tion that a kind and holy God has given man these 
sacred writings. Well might the Indian women of 
New England, two hundred years ago, look upon 
John Elliot as almost an angel ; and the Cafi*res of 
South Africa call the missionary " The shield of 
woman." ''Really," said a Hindoo female recently 
to a Christian lady, '' your Bible must have been 
WTitten by a woman, it contains so many kind 
things about us ; our Shasters say nothing of us but 
what is hard and cruel."* Except Christianity, 
every system of religion on earth degrades and op- 
presses the female sex. Paganism makes woman 
the slave of her husband while he lives, and stran- 
gles her, or burns her, or makes her an outcast 
when he dies. Buddhism, Mahommedanism, and 
Hindooism deny that she has a soul, and pronounce 
^ Foreign Missionary, 22, 388. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 61 

her irreclaimably wicked. Talmudic Judaism, when 
not placed in contact with Christianity, leaves her 
without instruction;* and subtle Infidelity, with the 
grossest flattery of the sex, and the avowed advo- 
cacy of Woman's Rights, always unsexes, degrades, 
and demoralizes her. Take the world at large, and 
the bondage of woman, except the prevalence of ir- 
religion from which it springs, is by far the worst 
social evil of the race. The Bible alone exerts an 
influence to make woman truly free ; raises her from 
her degradation ; speaks words of kindness in all 
her trials, and in the hour of her deepest bereave- 
ment cheers her eyes with the precious promises, 
that in all its pages speak of the widow's God, as 
the stars of heaven shine, numerous and bright, 
when darkness covers the earth. 

Well may the women of Christian lands fill our 
churches and rally around the Bible. They owe to 
it their temporal comforts as well as their religious 
hopes. Well may they suspect any flattering talk 
about their rights, which places them in any other 
position than that assigned to them in the Bible. 
Let them know all this talk, from the pernicious 
fruits of infidelity and licentiousness which it early 
and surely brings forth. The women of Christian 
lands have nothing to hope from infidelity. And 
for the well-being of all society, as well as for the 
special welfare of the female sex, it is a matter of 
vital importance that the ordinance of marriage be 
* Miss. Herald, 1850, 146. 



62 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

maintained as God gave it to Adam in Paradise, 
and as it is explained upon the subsequent pages of 
the sacred volume. We should regard these as 
crying and pernicious evils of our times : that the 
peace of families is held in too low estimate ; that 
diiferences which should be settled in the household 
are so easily magnified, and so readily given to the 
public ear ; that so many instances of desertion and of 
unfaithfulness to marriage vows are given with all 
their loathsome details in the public prints ; and, 
worse than all, that our legislators and our courts 
of law lend their influence, too often, to demoralize 
the country, by their lenient judgments upon licen- 
tious crimes, and especially by the facility with 
which divorces are decreed without the semblance 
of a fair investigation, and for the most frivolous 
reasons. Nor should we omit to say, that these 
things are made worse by the thoughtlessness of 
people, who, in their serious moments, know better 
and feel better. These allow themselves to speak 
too freely of other families ; to talk too lightly of 
the remedies which aggrieved parties should seek, 
and to express a confident and mischievous judg- 
ment in cases with which they have but a slight and 
partial acquaintance. 

Happy is the people when the ordinance of mar- 
riage is maintained as God gave it to our first pa- 
rents. Happy is the married pair who are joined 
with the approbation and blessing of the almighty 
God; who love each other as their ownselves; and 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 63 

who, in the beautiful figure of one of Burns's Scot- 
tish songs, climb life's hill in company ; press hand 
in hand down its further slope, and sleep together 
at the foot. Many eventful scenes will, indeed, oc- 
cur between the starting and the resting spot ; per- 
haps a separating hour comes early, and one is left 
to pass onward in life alone. We kno^v not how 
this was with Adam ; for the length of Eve's life is 
not recorded. But we are led to infer that they 
grew old together, and saw the increase of their 
children around them. We can know some of their 
griefs and some of their joys. The patrimony of 
their Father they soon lost ; and bankrupt in cha- 
racter, and bankrupt in fortunes, they went forth 
from that delightful garden to toil in a world which 
their sin had cursed. What sorrows had they in 
the murder of one child by the hand of another ! 
what mingled grief and joy in their own sins as 
contrasted with the tokens of Divine forgiveness ; 
in the piety of Abel, and in the impiety of Cain ! 
Life passed with them, as it passes with their child- 
ren, with all its varieties of care and comfort, of 
peace and perplexity, of hope and fear. 

Supposing that they grew old together, what a 
life was theirs ! The first married pair started life 
together, and spent nearly nine centuries and a half 
in their companionship. What a patriarchal scene ! 
How much must they have grown in attachment to 
each other ! How much was there of mutual de- 
pendence ; a delightful leaning upon each other, and 



64 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

deriving their happiness from each other ! And 
from the days of their declining age to this, earth 
has no more venerable sight than is presented by an 
aged couple, who have gone through life together, 
have settled their children in the earth, and draw 
near the end of their days with the respect and love 
of all that know them. 

Yet this one thing is needful to complete the pic- 
ture: that they have trained up a godly household; 
that they have sent forth their children to bless the 
land; and that having served God and their genera- 
tion here, they are only waiting for his summons to 
depart to that better country, where, indeed, ''there 
is neither marrying nor giving in marriage," but 
where love shall abide for ever, and separations 
never be known. 

Only waiting till the shadows 

Fall a little longer ; 
Waiting while their hopes of heaven 

Firmer grow, and stronger ; 
Watching, as the tabernacle 

Of this flesh is falling ; 
Judging each new imperfection 

Is their Father calling. 

Trusting, that through death's cold river, 

Christ their Lord will guide them ; 
Praying that its narrow waters 

May not long divide them. 
Lingering thus, to earth and heaven 

Warm affections bind them ; 
Hoping blessings, leaving blessings, 

For the loved behind ihem. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 65 

Blessed is the land whose children are joined in 
these sacred and permanent ties, and where right- 
eous parents train up their households in the fear 
of God, and in a blessed looking for immortality. 
The hopes of our country largely rest on the pure 
and pious maintenance of the family relation, as 
God formed it in Paradise. Depart in any measure 
from this ; let the tie of marriage be thoughtlessly 
formed, or thoughts of its dissolution be readily en- 
tertained, or separations be esteemed reputable ; and 
woe to the parties, to their offspring, and to society ! 
A mutual lifelong interest in their children, de- 
mands that parents should have a lifelong interest 
in each other. And it is chiefly because the child- 
ren of the human family need a moral training ex- 
tending through twenty years, and because this usu- 
ally determines the character for our everlasting 
existence, that this ordinance is so divinely ap- 
pointed. The Lord seeks a godly seed; that is, the 
family, as he has formed it, is a religious institution ; 
and fearful guilt belongs to those who venture to 
pervert it from this design. And they who form 
their families after the Divine design, may hope for 
even a greater permanence than belongs to a life- 
long covenant. The most precious hope for a family 
is in these things : that its members are fitted for 
God's service here and hereafter; that his favour is 
chiefly sought in all they do and are ; that the sepa- 
rations that must occur will be only for a little 
6* 



66 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

season ; and that, not long hence, the whole family 
shall meet together around the throne of God. 

There is a coming day when no remembered 
scenes of our earthly homes will be recalled with 
more pleasure than that described in the familiar 
verse of Burns : 

** Then kneeling down to heaven's eternal King, 
The saint, the father, and the husband prays ; 
Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing. 
That thus they all shall meet in future days, 
There ever bask in uncreated rays, 
No more to sigh or shed the bitter tear. 

Together hymning their Creator's praise, 
In such society, yet still more dear. 
While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.'* 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 67 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ORIGIN AND PERPETUITY OF THE SABBATH. 

" Hail to the day, which He who made the heaven, 
Earth, and their armies, sanctified and blest, 
Perpetual memory of the Maker's rest! 
Hail to the day, when He, by whom was given 
New life to man, the tomb asunder riven, 
Arose! That day his church hath still confest. 
At once Creation's and Kedemption's feast, 
Sign of a world called forth, a world forgiven." 

Bp. Mant. 

The institution of the Sabbath is another of the 
ordinances of Eden. Mention is made of it in the 
first chapter of Genesis ; and the second chapter is 
a summary of the first. Doubtless Eve was created 
upon the same sixth day with Adam ; and the next 
day was the first Sabbath. These two institutions 
of man's innocence, — marriage and the Sabbath, — 
were designed to be perpetual for the race. Men 
make a great mistake when they allow themselves 
to think of the Sabbath as a Jewish institution. It 
is not so in any just sense of the term. Doubtless 
Moses adopted for the Jews, by Divine direction, 
many laws which had been in use previously and 



68 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

elsewhere ; and he sometimes made changes in 
these, adapting them to the Jewish people. So the 
Jews had several kinds of Sabbaths ; as every sev- 
enth year was a Sabbatical year, and every seven 
times seven wa^ succeeded by a year of Jubilee : 
and the penalties for Sabbath desecration were pe- 
culiarly Jewish. But the weekly Sabbath itself was 
not founded by Moses : it was in existence twenty- 
five hundred years before his day : and when the 
law was given on Sinai, the fourth commandment 
expressly recognized the Sabbath as an existing and 
ancient institution. In terms that commandment 
does not enact a Sabbath ; but it enjoins that men 
should '4^emember" that a Sabbath already existed; 
and that God instituted it, when he rested from the 
work of creation. To abolish the ceremonial law 
of Moses and the entire Jewish church state, does 
not abolish the Sabbath, or impair its authority. 
As it was given to Adam in Paradise, it was plainly 
designed for all his children ; nor are there any ar- 
guments to make the Sabbath binding upon any 
body or any age, that do not establish its value, 
propriety, and authority for all the sons of men 
and in every age. 

The institution of the Sabbath for man, while he 
was in his estate of innocence, affords us a reason- 
able proof of its perpetual obligation. Every one 
can see that if marriage was necessary to man un- 
fallen, for the preservation, purity, and comfort of 
the race, its importance and necessity were only in- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 69 

creased Tvhen man became a sinner. True reason- 
ing would urge that the more man became corrupt, 
the more he rebelled against the law of marriage, 
the greater was the necessity of maintaining the 
law. The sinfulness of man makes the law of mar- 
riage more needful, at the same time that it makes 
it more difficult to retain it in all its strictness. 
And so may we reason of the Sabbath-day. If 
sinless man needed one day in seven that he might 
cease his usual employments, and find time to wor- 
ship God without distraction, how much more are 
the rest and the law of the Sabbath necessary for 
sinful man ! It is not strange that nothing is said 
of the Sabbath from this time forward until the 
time of the going forth of the Israelites from Egypt ; 
for the history of two thousand years is put within 
the brief compass of a few chapters. Yet we find 
Noah, Jacob, and Laban observing the week as a 
division of time ; and the Israelites gathering double 
manna on the sixth day, and finding none on the 
seventh ; and commanded to observe the Sabbath 
even before they came to Mount Sinai ; all which 
are indications that though the Sabbath may have 
been laxly kept, as marriage degenerated into poly- 
gamy, still it was known through all the inter- 
vening period between Adam and Moses. When 
therefore we find the law of the Sabbath written in 
the midst of the ten commandments, just in the 
place where we would expect to find it if God de- 
signed it to be of perpetual obligation ; when we 



70 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

see that no precept that belongs peculiarly to the 
Jewish dispensation received any such distinction ; 
when we know that God wrote it twice in the moral 
law, and that Moses has recorded it twice in his 
writings, and that the reasons there given for its 
observance are drawn from the creation as suitable 
to all men, and not as elsewhere from the redemp- 
tion from Egypt as suitable peculiarly to Israel ;* 
and when we can easily see that the Sabbath is as 
needful and suitable for every land and every age 
as for any time or any people, we seem to find in 
all these things, reasons for regarding it as of per- 
petual obligation. 

And the proof is far more conclusive as we pass 
to notice other things. We read in the prophecies 
of Isaiah (Ivi. 6, 8), that God promises large 
blessings to the strangers from all nations that 
should join themselves to the Lord and keep his 
Sabbaths. As the Gentiles were not called into the 
Church until after the dawning of the Christian 
dispensation, the prophet must mean that the Sab- 
bath was still to be a Divine institution, and still 
to be kept holy, and still to be a blessing to those 
who kept it, after the time of the calling of the 
Gentiles. So we read that our blessed Lord, who 
vindicated the Sabbath from Pharisaical notions 
that forbade works of mercy on that day, still 
teaches us that the Sabbath was made for man, for 
the r^ce, everywhere and always ; and speaks of it 
^ Compare Ex. xx. 11, with Deut. v. 15. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 71 

as obligatory, even after the setting up of the 
Christian Church. Matt. xxiv. 20. And Avhen we 
find the disciples of Christ assembling for worship 
on the first day of the week, calling it the Lord's 
day, and transmitting it to the Christian Church to 
be observed ever since, in memory of the resurrec- 
tion of Christ, the proof seems complete that God 
designed to give the Sabbath to man as an ordinance 
of perpetual obligation. 

And it is a very great mistake for any man to 
suppose that the change of the day from the seventh 
to the first day of the week, invalidates, in any de- 
gree, the claims of the Christian Sabbath. The 
very reverse is true. The change of day is a cer- 
tain proof that the institution remains in perpetuity. 
For if the Sabbath had remained for the Christian 
Church upon the same day that had been kept from 
the foundation of the world, the objection would at 
once arise that the Christians had adopted it merely 
through the force of their old prejudices. It 
would surely be called a Jewish ceremony trans- 
ferred to the Christian Church. If we consider the 
circumstances of the early Christian Church — -com- 
posed so largely of converts who had been educated 
in all the forms of Judaism, who regarded the Mo- 
saic law as of Divine original, and who clung so 
closely to all of their former faith which they could 
possibly retain — we may easily decide that the 
apostles could have abolished the Sabbath altogether 
with more ease than they could retain the institu- 



72 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

tion and change the day. If they had said that 
the Sabbath was to be done away with entirely — 
like their types and sacrifices — their converts might 
have acquiesced. But in a few instances Chris- 
tianity gave Judaism something in exchange for the 
ordinances it took away ; and in every such case, 
the very reasons for the exchange would serve to 
call the attention of the Church to the institutions. 
The altar, the priest, the type, even the temple, 
must pass away; for Christ has come, and men may 
now everywhere worship the Father. The Paschal 
Lamb may find its substitute in the simple supper 
of our Lord. But the chief substitutes which 
Christianity made of new ordinances for those ex- 
isting in the old economy, were two ; and it is re- 
markable that neither of them was established by 
Moses, but both belonged to the previous patriarchal 
dispensation. 

For circumcision was substituted baptism ; this 
signifies the same thing, seals the same covenant, 
pledges the same spiritual blessings, is applied to 
the same subjects, and occupies the same position. If 
the Jew asked the reason for making any change 
when the same things were meant, reasons were 
ready. The promised seed had come ; Abraham's 
race needed no longer to be distinguished ; and a 
Church for all nations needed a simpler seal of the 
great covenant. For the seventh-day Sabbath, 
Christianity substituted the first-day Sabbath; and 
the sufiicient reason is, the Redemption by Christ 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 73 

is a greater thing to be commemorated in the 
Church of God than the creation of the world. If 
circumcision dates back to Abraham, the Sabbath is 
older yet ; and Christianity is not to be charged 
with following Jewish laws, if it substantially retains 
them both. But is it not true that the very at- 
tempt to change the Sabbath from one day to an- 
other implies the intelligent agitation of the subject 
in the early Christian Church ? and is it not true 
that the successful eifort to make the change is proof 
that they acknowledged the authority by which the 
change was made ? The unquestionable fact that 
Christians have observed the first day of the week 
as the Christian Sabbath, is entirely inconsistent 
with the repeal of the Sabbath law, when the insti- 
tutions of Moses were abrogated. The change 
argues perpetuity, and a perpetuity founded upon 
an intelligent conviction of duty, rather than upon 
a formal and thoughtless adoption of an ancient 
prejudice. 

Add to all these thoughts the deeply important 
argument that the blessing of God has been upon 
the Christian Sabbath ; and the proof is complete 
to show that its obligation is universal and per- 
petual. 

God long ago promised that when his house had 
become a house of prayer for all people, he would 
give his blessing upon all that would keep his Sab- 
baths without polluting them. Isa. Ivi. 6 ; this pro- 



74 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

mise he has fulfilled. A Sabbath-keeping people, 
or family, or person, is blessed. How many ruined 
men trace the first steps of their downfall to Sab- 
bath-desecration ! How many have found instruc- 
tion, and righteousness, and peace, and salvation, 
by the honouring of God's Sabbath ! If we have 
evidence of God's blessing on anything earthly, it 
is upon the Sabbath. 

Now it is no fitting reply to proofs like these, 
that Paul seems to argue that the Sabbath is no 
longer binding. For the tenor of the Apostle's ar- 
guments confines his thoughts to the ceremonial 
Sabbaths of the Jewish economy ; to refer his words 
to the weekly Sabbath would place him in contra- 
diction to the words of the sacred writings, and to 
his own practice, so as Paul never is found. But 
the single and suflScient key by which to interpret 
his language may be found in this conclusive fact, 
that the church did not understand the great 
Apostle of the Gentiles as arguing against the 
Christian Sabbath, or as desiring that it should be 
abolished. If — as these modern interpreters would 
allege — Paul tried to break down the Sabbath, no 
man that ever lived could have exerted a greater 
influence to effect such an object. But the facts are 
all against the thought that he made any such at- 
tempt. The Christian chixrch retained the fourth 
commandment in her decalogue as it was before ; 
used the Sabbath for the worship of God ; gava a 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 75 

new and striking sanction to the day by making it 
commemorate the resurrection of Christ, and sent 
it down to our own times as a perpetual proof that 
neither Paul nor any other inspired writer made 
any efforts to effect its destruction. 



76 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

NATURE, DESIGN, AND DUTIES OF THE SABBATH. 

** Welcome that day, the day of holy peace, 

The Lord's own day ! to man's Creator owed, 
And man's Kedeemer ; for the soul's increase 

In sanctity and sweet repose bestowed. 
Type of the rest when sin and care shall cease, 
The rest remaining for the loved of God!" 

Bp. Mant. 

The most important question after all, especially 
in the times in which we live, does not respect the 
perpetuity of the weekly rest ; but the nature, and 
design, and obligations of the day as a Sabbath. 
No thoughtful mind can well venture to question 
that to take away the sacred obligations of the Sab- 
bath is to destroy all its real value. The enemies 
of the Sabbath have no real wish that this dav of 
the week should be blotted from our Calendar ; nor 
w^ish that it should be made a day of unremitting 
toil, like other days of the week. If the question 
was taken. Shall we have a Sabbath or no Sabbath ? 
the votes for its entire abolition would be few in- 
deed. Even the men who are most zealously en- 
gaged in active efforts for Sabbath desecration, 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 7T 

would start back from the consequences of taking 
awaj^ the day, and of making it like the other days 
of the week. The busy railroads in and near our 
large cities ; the places of resort and amusement ; 
the saloons and the drinking houses, find the Sab- 
bath their most profitable day: and these, and 
thousands with them, who put forth every exertion 
that interest and a hatred to religion can prompt, 
to secure the most abundant Sabbath desecration on 
every hand, would yet not touch the burden with 
one of their fingers, if the question was purely for 
the abolition of the Sabbath. The enemies of the 
Sabbath do not meet the question fairly. They 
want a Sabbath, but they wish unbounded license 
upon it : just as the mass of ungodly men would 
prefer a church that had no strictness of doctrine, 
no sternness of rebuke, and no warnings of the 
wrath to come. Yet a Sabbath universally dese- 
crated is worse than none. A Sabbath that sets 
loose the population of the land for recklessness, 
and riot, and drunkenness ; a Sabbath without Sab- 
bath instructions, Sabbath morals, and Sabbath re- 
ligion ; a Sabbath like the Sabbaths of Papal 
Europe, is such a day as must totally fail to secure 
any good end that belongs to the ordinance of God 
in Eden ; and as must tend to demoralize rather 
than to bless society. Whether the opponents of 
our Sabbath laws see this end or not, the true ten- 
dency of Sabbath desecration is to strike a fatal 
blow at all the valuable influences, both physical 



78 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and moral, that are exerted by the due observance 
of the sacred day. 

But as the Sabbath has proved itself a day for 
perpetual observance by its continued recognition 
among all nations of Christendom, and even among 
those who retain it merely as a holiday, it becomes 
us to inquire, How ought it to be spent ? As mar- 
riage remains every where upon earth, and yet from 
all its corrupted forms we must look back to Para- 
dise to find its true law ; so let the original and 
authoritative ordinations teach us the true law of 
the Sabbath. If it binds now, it binds for the same 
purposes and designs as ever. It still remains the 
Sabbath ; and as it has its place, so it has its claims 
and character in the fourth commandment : while 
its just interpretation is to be found in all that is 
said of it in the word of God. 

The Sabbath to Adam in Eden was a rest from 
the ordinary occupations of other days. And 
surely, since the fall of man and the more burden- 
some labour that pertains to our present estate, the 
claims of such a day are incomparably greater, as 
a needful rest from the severity of incessant toil. 
And the argument is complete which proves, from 
the physical necessities of man and beast, that such 
a day is needful for the health and life, as well as 
the comfort of God's creatures. If there is any 
difference between our own age and others, it may 
justly be affirmed that the rest of the Sabbath was 
never before so necessary as it is now, and shall al- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 79 

Avays hereafter be, since the introduction of ma- 
chinery to do the work of man. For the man whose 
daily labours require him to keep pace with the 
w^orking of a steam engine, and to match his muscles 
w^ith its untiring sinews, must toil with a watchful- 
ness and a regularity hitherto unknown in all the 
labours of the race. And it is plain to every in- 
telligent observer, that the energy and industry of 
our style of civilization must demand for the good 
of mind and body a cessation from these wearing 
toils, that is greatly more imperative than under any 
other form of human life. The truth is, we need 
this regular weekly rest more than man ever needed 
it before ; and the prospect is, that as the race ad- 
vances, man may look up with increasing thankful- 
ness to God, for this institution of Paradise. Es- 
pecially may toiling men thank God for the Sab- 
bath. The poet is right with all his emphasis as he 
sings : 

*' Hail, Sabbath ! thee I hail, the poor man's day ! 
For on this day, embosomed in his home. 
He shares the frugal meal with those he loves ; 
With those he loves he shares the heartfelt joy 
Of giving thanks to God — not thanks of form 
A word and a grimace, but reverently, 
With covered face and upward, earnest eye."'^^ 

In the happy land w^here we live, we hardly know 
what a poor man is ; and descriptions of poverty in 
other lands are inapplicable here. Among us, dis- 

* Grahame. 



80 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

tinctions of rank are unknown y- distinctions of 
wealth are scarcely recognized. Health and energy 
have hitherto sufficed among us to secure a liveli- 
hood above a competence ; and even in what we 
call "hard times," the miserable dependence and 
the unceasing toil of the poor in the crowded popu- 
lations of Europe and Asia are unknown. Yet 
many things prove that things are even now chang- 
ing in this respect. We have more poor than for- 
merly ; and the toil and energy necessary to secure 
a livelihood are greater than before ; and there are 
more in our communities than there used to be, who 
secure employment with difficulty. And should 
things grow worse in this direction, should we ever 
have here the ceaseless struggle for life and bread 
that falls to the lot of the poor in eastern lands, we 
shall know, as we have never yet known, what it is 
for the poor to be in the power of the rich ; and 
what a blessing God provided for the poor when in 
the garden of Eden he appointed the rest of the 
Sabbath. The Sabbath is needed, will be more and 
more needed in this toiling world. The busy popu- 
lation of these growing states are the last that, for 
their own sakes, dare trample upon it ; and now is 
the time to fix the habits of this nation as a Sab- 
bath-keeping people. Let the working men of 
America engage in such pleasure of Sabbath-dese- 
cration as must lay the burden of toil upon some of 
their own brethren, and ere long they will bring the 
curse of unceasing toil upon themselves. Let our 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 81 

working men consent to labour upon the Sabbath 
for any set of masters, and they not only make 
slaves of themselves, but they prepare heavier chains 
of bondage for their children, which, unless through 
the preventing mercy of a long suffering God, will 
weigh them down to the dust. Let the Sabbath 
of our fathers be given unimpaired to our children ! 

The truth is, the Sabbath and marriage are twin 
institutions ; like Adam and Eve, both created in 
Eden, designed to live together, designed to support 
each other, and joined by God himself in bonds 
which no man should sunder. The toil of the week 
necessarily separates the husband from the wife, the 
parent from the child. If every day was a day of 
toil, some men would scarcely snatch an hour of do- 
mestic enjoyment; and the instruction of their 
children would seem scarcely a part of the duty de- 
volving upon parents. The Sabbath is designed to 
further the ends not only of individual improvement, 
but of family benefit and comfort ; and its hours 
are to be used accordingly. Nor is it any objection 
to this view, that so many disregard this influence 
of Sabbath hours. For we fearlessly challenge in- 
vestigation when we allege, that no families are 
happier, or better trained, or more prosperous, than 
those in which the Sabbath is most carefully kept. 

The Sabbath is most important in its influence 
upon the Family; and let men keep the Sabbath in 
such a way as to promote the advantage of all the 
families of man, and its other duties would scarcely 



82 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

be left undone. For if I must be with my family, 
then I ought not to keep my neighbour away from 
his ; and if every family aimed to spend the Sab- 
bath for the comfort and profit of the household, 
not only would all needless labour cease, but man 
would learn his great duties as a reasonable and an 
immortal creature. And it ought to be observed in 
support of these views that the fourth command- 
ment is specially addressed to heads of families ; 
and they are directed not only to keep holy the 
Sabbath, but to take care that it is so kept by all 
within their doors, whether children, or servants, 
or strangers. Richard Baxter is reported as saying, 
that when parents do their duty by their children, 
the conversion of souls will seldom take place in the 
sanctuary. The children will be brought to God 
while still under the parental roof. Happy day 
when every family shall be truly a nursery whence 
the plants of grace shall be brought to fill up the 
Church as the garden of the Lord. Give us a 
Sabbath in every family — as God gave the Sabbath 
and the family together in Paradise — and the morn- 
ing star of that dawn will rise. 

For the Sabbath is not only a day of rest. If 
we have it now in perpetuity, why should we not 
have it as it w^as in the beginning ! When God gave 
a Sabbath, he sanctified it ; when he repeated it in 
the moral law, he enjoined that it should be kept 
holy. The Sabbath is a religious day. As God 
gave it to Adam in his estate of innocence, this was 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 83 

its chief design. Eest from labour he needed less 
than man has ever needed it since ; for the toil of 
a curse-stricken earth did not yet lay its burdens 
upon him. If any living man ever could refuse to 
sanctify a Sabbath because every day was holy, 
Adam might well say this ; and yet in a life that 
knew no sin, he needed a day when his ordinary 
employments must be laid aside, and the whole time 
be spent in religious duties. And it is not a hard 
thing to understand that the physical rest which 
the sacred day now gives to the sons of toil, is not 
at all inconsistent with the design of this day, as 
holy to the service of God. A true rest for the 
mind and for the body is better secured, because 
these separated hours may not be spent in the active 
pursuit of folly and pleasure. No men appreciate 
or improve more the Sabbath, as a day of rest, than 
those who spend it most carefully as a religious day. 
Many spend these hours in seeking their own pleas- 
ure, which God's word expressly forbids; and they 
often show the result of this, by being more unfit 
for their usual duties upon Monday morning than 
at any other time in the week. Let the Sabbath be 
kept according to its own nature, and the design of 
its institution. God has blessed the day as one to 
be kept holy ; and happy is the man who observes 
it accordingly. 

There is scarcely any more important question to 
be settled in this land than that which pertains to 
the observance of the Sabbath in our communities. 



84 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

It is impossible that the government of a free people 
can be maintained on this great continent, unless a 
substantial basis is laid in the intelligence and virtue 
of our citizens. And it is certainly true that the 
educational interests of this land have been chiefly 
promoted by Sabbath-loving and Sabbath-keeping 
men. And the Sabbath is the chief safeguard of 
virtue for this people. To its influence we owe all 
the difi*erence that exists between us and the nations 
of Europe, who are now sending in upon our shores 
so many vices ; and the cause of them all in an utter 
disavowal of the sanctity of the Sabbath. Break 
down the Sabbath, and all that is valuable in re- 
ligion must be broken down with it. Only one na- 
tion of Europe ever ventured formally to blot the 
sacred day from existence ; and the results are so 
horrible that the nations shut their ears at the 
dreadful cry, and trembled as they gazed. Yet 
before that reign of terror, France had only the 
semblance of a Sabbath. If even that could not be 
thrown off* without such scenes of anarchy and 
bloodshed, as the just judgments of God upon a 
nation mad in infidelity, no mind can conceive the 
fearful consequences which would follow the down- 
fall of such a Sabbath as these States have had 
since their settlement. Let every patriot, out of 
regard for the well being of his country, stand by 
the Sabbath. Every year proves that we need it 
more than ever, and just in proportion as its ene- 
mies become bold, and as Sabbath desecration in- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 85 

creases, do we learn on every hand that crimes of 
every kind and grade are on the increase. The 
downfall of the Sabbath would be the Jubilee of 
evil. 

As the Sabbath began in the earthly Eden, so it 
is a type of the heavenly Paradise. Heaven itself 
is called a Sabbatism — a rest that remaineth for the 
people of God. They who love and keep these 
hours of sacred time most cheerfully, keep in mind 
also the rest beyond. 

" Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, we love, 
But there's a nobler rest above; 
To that our longing souls aspire 
"With ardent hope and strong desire." 

Truly blessed are they who by the rest of God 
on earth are fitted to enter upon the songs and joys 
of that unending Sabbath. 

Our great English poet has made us familiar with 
two important themes : Paradise Lost, and Paradise 
Regained. In the Paradise which our first father 
lost, God instituted the family and the Sabbath. 
"When men are wise enough to keep both these or- 
dinances according to their original appointment, 
they are ever found among the most efficient means 
through which, by Divine grace, we may regain the 
better Paradise. 
8 



86 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ORIGIN OF EVIL. 

*< History not wanted yet, 
Leaijed on her elbow, watching Time, whose course, 
Eventful, should supply her with a theme." 

COWPEK. 

The father of profane history Informs us that he 
saw in Egypt an architectural wonder more sur- 
prising than the pyramids. This was their famous 
Labyrinth, built on the Lake Moeris ; a magnificent 
pile of twelve palaces communicating with each 
other, having three thousand rooms, interspersed 
with terraces, half above ground and half below, 
having no apparent outlet. The rooms, and passages, 
and columns, were so numerous, and so similar to 
each other, that no stranger, once introduced, could 
find his way out without a guide. Hence, in com- 
mon language, a labyrinth is a difiiculty that cannot 
be explained, a confused mass of things hard to 
disentangle. 

Virgil narrates that Daedalus, the architect of a 
similar labyrinth in Crete, taught Theseus how to 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 87 

iSnd his way out, by unwinding a thread as he went 
in, and making it his guide upon his return.* 

It would be a very easy thing for us to lose our 
way at this point of the history of our first father, 
in a more perplexing labyrinth than Greece or 
Egypt ever constructed. Here comes before us one 
of the most difficult and profound subjects of human 
thought ; here indeed is a labyrinth where many 
have wandered, seeking in vain to find a solution. 
How did sin find entrance to the heart of a holy 
being ? Rather, how could it find existence in the 
dominions of a holy, just, omniscient, and omnipo- 
tent God ? This indeed is evidently not its first 
entrance. For the sin of man was through a 
tempter, who, before this, had sinned against the 
Creator. But how did sin find entrance into a holy 
world? is a question that naturally arises as we 
read of man's first disobedience. 

Some boldly affirm that God is himself the Au- 
thor of sin. They argue, that so vast is his know- 
ledge, so unbounded his resources, so complete his 
power, that so entirely do creatures live, and move, 
and have their being in him, that the creature is no- 
thing and God is everything. But this is certainly 
not the thread to lead us safely forth from these 
tangled mazes. We may agree with these persons 
in magnifying the supreme excellencies of Jehovah, 
but we are fully convinced, by reason of these very 

•^ ^neid vi. 27. The true version is that Ariadne gave the 
clew. 



88 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

perfections, that their conclusions cannot possibly 
be true. Whether we are or are not able to point 
out the sophistry, we know that reasonings, which 
reach such a conclusion, must be false. We have 
testimony, more direct and more complete, to con- 
vince us that this result is untrue, than is needful 
to overpower the force of any metaphysical reason- 
ings in its favour. Every well regulated mind in- 
stantly rejects the thought as blasphemy, when told 
that God is the Author of sin. Every man's con- 
science accuses or excuses himself; gives him plea- 
sure or grief in view of his own conduct and cha- 
racter ; and seals the sentence of judgment against 
him as the author of his own sin. And the Scrip- 
tures say most explicitly, that God is most holy, 
cannot be tempted of evil, and tempts no man. 
Those who teach this blasphemy cannot guide us 
forth from the labyrinth. 

As little are they correct guides, by whatever 
name they may call themselves, who affirm that sin 
is an evil to which a universe of rational beings is 
necessarily liable ; that God himself is unable to 
prevent moral beings from sinning ; that, having 
formed them free, it is beyond even Ms power to 
preserve them in holiness and happiness. This es- 
pecial teaching has been very zealously supported 
in our own land, and at one time threatened to 
bring in the most serious evils upon our churches. 

Dr. Taylor of New Haven, in a sermon preached 
at the commencement in Yale College in 1828, said, 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 89 

^^It is a groundless assumption that God could have 
prevented all sin, or at least, the present degree of 
sin in a moral system.'* So two years afterwards 
he wrote in the Christian Spectator, " Free moral 
agents can do wrong under all possible preventing 
influence," 1830, page 563. And afterwards, "We 
know that a moral system necessarily implies the 
existence of free agents, with the power to act in 
despite of all opposing power. This fact sets hu- 
man reason at defiance, in every attempt to prove 
that some of these agents will not use that power 
and actually sin." 1831, page 617. So Prof. 
Charles G. Finney, at one time a revival-preacher 
in the Presbyterian Church, and afterwards profes- 
sor of Theology at Oberlin, says," It is vain to talk 
of God's omnipotence preventing sin." And similar 
teachings find expression elsewhere. Arminians 
teach that God did all he could to prevent sin, " con- 
sistently with his determination to give and maintain 
free agency to his creatures."* But we need not 
inquire further among whom these views are held. 
According to this theory, if God would make moral 
beings at all, he must, so to speak, run the risk of 
their sinning, a matter which he could not prevent. 
We may prefer to receive almost any other teaching 
upon this profound topic rather than believe this. 
Put this thread in our hands, and instead of guiding 
us upward and onward to the light of day, it leads 
us downward and inward to the darkest and gloomi- 

* Watson's Institutes, P. ii. ch. xxviii. 
8^ 



90 ADAM AND HiS TIMES. 

est chambers beyond all hope. We regard it as de- 
structive of some of the most distinctive and most 
precious teachings of the inspired volume ; and as 
dishonouring God almost beyond conception. He 
is no longer a Sovereign; the creatures he has made 
are quite beyond his control ; he may wish, and he 
may make all possible efforts, to effect his purposes ; 
but men and devils will do as they please in spite 
of him. They are independent of him, and as a 
necessary consequence he is not independent of 
them. He may form his plans, but so far as they 
are concerned, his purposes may not be carried out. 
If these things are true, we cannot depend on the 
prophecies of the Bible ; for men may refuse to do 
what God has said they will, and he has no power 
to produce the results predicted. We cannot trust 
its promises ; we ought never to pray that God 
would advance any cause that depends on man's in- 
strumentality. 

The necessary consequences of these teachings 
are so dreadful that we shrink back from them with 
horror. ''To be a free agent necessarily implies a 
liability to sin." We do not believe it. To be in 
a state of probation as Adam was, may imply this ; 
but free agency does not. We believe that God can 
establish a free agent in holiness and happiness be- 
yond the possibility of fall for ever. ^'If God," 
says Dr. E. D. Griffin, "could not have prevented 
sin in all worlds and ages, he cannot prevent sin in 
any world or age, or in any creature at any time, 



AD.AM AND HIS TIMES. 91 

except by preventing the particular occasion and 
temptation. If God could not have prevented sin 
in the universe, he cannot prevent believers from 
fatally falling. He cannot prevent Gabriel and 
Paul from sinking at once into devils, and heaven 
from turning into a hell. And were he to create 
new races to fill the vacant seats, they might turn 
to devils as fast as he created them, in spite of any 
thing he could do, short of destroying their moral 
agency. He is liable to be defeated in all his de- 
signs, and to be as miserable as he is benevolent. 
This is infinitely the gloomiest idea that was ever 
thrown upon the world. It is gloomier than hell 
itself. For this involves only the destruction of a 
part ; but that involves the wretchedness of God 
and his whole creation. And how awfully gloomy 
as it respects the prospects of individual believers ! 
You have no security that you shall stand an hour. 
And even if you get to heaven, you have no cer- 
tainty of remaining there a day."* 

There is however another view of this matter 
which we seem bound to take. We do not pretend 
that the difficulties of the subject can be solved by 
us. But a thread may guide us through the labyr- 
inth, if we do not understand the entire plan of its 
halls and passages. This thread is the simple prin- 
ciple, that, in religion as well as in natural philoso- 
phy, we are bound to recognize all the facts that 
are brought to our knowledge, even when we cannot 
■^ Divine Efficiency, 180. 



92 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

explain tlicir connection, or even their consistency. 
All truths are consistent ; but it is not a prerequi- 
site to our knowledge of any truth that we are able 
to point out how it is consistent with other things. 
We believe that God is the full, necessary, and per- 
petual Sovereign of the universe ; that at all times 
and in all things he doeth according to his pleasure 
in heaven and on earth ; and yet that he so governs 
free creatures that their freedom is secured in the 
most perfect harmony with the execution of his great 
purposes. Though then he could have prevented 
the entrance of sin into the universe ; and though 
w^e cannot determine the reasons why he did not, we 
believe he permitted it to enter. We know his su- 
preme independence ; his sovereign power ; his 
ability to plan and to foretell the future, even in 
regard to those things which concern the free ac- 
tions of even sinful beings. We know that sin 
exists ; that sinners act freely ; that their con- 
sciences condemn them for it ; and that God holds 
them responsible. We know that his Spirit regen- 
erates the hearts of sinful men, yet without inter- 
fering viith. their free agency ; that believers in 
the gospel of Christ are surely ''kept by the power 
of God through faith unto salvation," so that they 
cannot be separated from the love of Christ ; and 
that the holy angels and the spirits of redeemed 
men in heaven are confirmed in holiness and happi- 
ness for ever beyond the possibility of fall, though 
they are as free moral agents as it is possible for 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 93 

creatures to be : we know in full consistency with 
all these facts that sin does exist, and that God will 
glorify himself in the great scheme of redemption 
from sin. Here we must stop. Why he has al- 
lowed sin to enter, we can only partially understand. 
But his sovereignty and man's freedom, his holi- 
ness and man's sin, are truths settled in our firm 
faith, beyond the reach of the most subtle sophistry 
and the most malignant cavils. 

Yet while we may wisely decline all attempts to 
fathom the deep counsels of God in this great thing, 
there are two matters to which we may justly give 
our thoughts : First, we may vindicate the supre- 
macy and the righteousness of God, as in the views 
just now expressed : and secondly, we may believe 
that God designs by the plan of salvation to show to 
the universe his wonderful wisdom, perhaps as it 
could not otherwise be shown. Eph. iii. 10. We 
.do not know whether God's justice could be under- 
stood while his law was never broken; certainly his 
mercy could never be exercised without sinful ob- 
jects ; and above all, the harmony of justice and 
mercy in actual exercise, required a scheme like 
that of the gospel of Christ. 



94 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE GREAT TEMPTER. 

*' For whence 
But from the author of all ill, could spring 
So deep a malice, to confound the race 
Of mankind in one root ?" 

Milton. 

Our attention, as we draw near the scene of 
temptation, is first called to the Tempter. He is 
here described as a serpent. Nor need we doubt 
that the animal spoken of was a kind of serpent ; 
though one modern commentator has ventured to 
express a fantastic opinion on this point, and thus 
early in his commentaries upon the entire Bible, to 
bid us beware of trusting too much to such a judg- 
ment. If even we had any doubts of the true 
meaning of the Hebrew word here translated as 
serpent, the point would be settled by the authority 
of the New Testament. For there it is declared 
that the serpent beguiled Eve ; and we need have 
no doubts of the true meaning of the Greek word 
there used. It may possibly be that the whole 
tribe of serpents was originally formed to move in 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 95 

a more erect posture than they now do ; as we 
know that now some species of serpents, especially 
when excited, are accustomed to move with their 
heads considerably elevated from the ground. 

But temptation almost always comes in insidious 
and deceitful forms ; its plausible pretensions give 
it its chief currency ; and we must be upon our 
guard against things that seem harmless. The 
serpent was an animal endowed with subtlety above 
the other creatures ; yet the serpent was but an in- 
strument. The true tempter was another, an intel- 
ligent being, making use of this form to serve his 
wicked purpose of deceiving man and of leading him 
to sin. The Scriptures reveal the tempter under 
the name of Satan — an adversary. The Apostle 
John not only tells us that the devil sinneth from 
the beginning ; but he gives him the various names 
of the dragon, that old serpent, and Satan. Who 
this adversary was and is, we are also informed. 
Sin did not begin in the universe with the family 
of man. There are angels whom God created in 
holiness and happiness, who kept not their first 
estate, and who were cast down from heaven and are 
now reserved in chains of darkness until the judg- 
ment of the great day. The chief of these is called 
the devil, Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Satan. Men 
have indeed professed to doubt the existence of this 
adversary, and of such powerful adversaries to man 
as the fallen angels. Yet while we can easily de- 
cide that the designs of such an adversary can be 



96 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

all the more busily and successfully carried forward, 
if he can add this to his other deceits that men 
should be persuaded that he has no existence ; we 
may as easily see the proofs of what he is and what 
he can do, in the sad history of the world, behind 
us and around us. But we need have no doubts 
upon this subject, if we receive in simple confidence 
the clear and explicit statements of the Bible. 

This sacred volume reveals to us a world of 
spiritual beings, having much intercourse with men, 
of whom we would be ignorant but for its teach- 
ings. 

** Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth 
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.'* 

Why God permits the fallen angels to exert their 
powers of evil and to tempt man — like a vast cham- 
ber in the great labyrinth to whose high roof and 
distant walls our eyes, at least in these abodes of 
darkness, cannot see — is a branch of the great 
question concerning the origin of evil which we 
cannot understand. The simple and serious facts 
we may well know — Satan is a powerful, wicked, 
malignant foe of man. He is, in the sacred writ- 
ings, represented as the god of this world, the 
prince of the power of the air, and the accuser of 
God's people, who accuses them night and day be- 
fore God. 2 Cor. iv. 4. Eph. ii. 2. Kev. xii. 10. 
He works in the children of disobedience. Eph. ii. 
2 ; blinds the eyes of them that believe not, 2 Cor. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 97 

iv. 4 ; leads captive wretched souls at his will, 2 
Tim. ii. 26 ; and catches away the truth from the 
hearts of those that hear the gospel, lest they should 
believe and be saved, Luke viii. 12. So great is 
his presumption that he did not forbear to assault 
the Son of God himself when he became incarnate, 
and attempt to beguile him by subtlety. Of such 
an adversary ; of his subtle deceits ; and of the means 
of our safety, it is our folly to be ignorant. For 
no believer on earth is safe from his attacks. And 
this is a matter well worthy of our frequent and 
serious study — to know the arts of this great 
Tempter. From the first scene in Paradise to the 
present time, he has prosecuted his plans to lead 
men away from God. He transforms himself into 
an angel of light ; he misrepresents both the truth 
to make it appear burdensome, and the falsehood 
to make it seem attractive; he is a liar and a 
murderer from the beginning, not to be trusted in 
any word he says, and to be feared in all he aims to 
do. 
9 



98 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XI. 

man's first sin. 

** Her rash hand in evil hour 
Forth reaching to the fruit, she plucked, she ate; 
Earth felt the wound, and nature from her seat 
Sighing through all her works gave signs of woe 
That all was lost." 

Milton. 

The first sin of man has been thought, by some, 
an insignificant act to be followed by consequences 
so serious. It is a difficult task to weigh accurately 
the actions of men. But we can easily decide that 
the deeds of men are not to be estimated by the 
magnitude of individual acts, by the time occupied 
in doing them, or even by their consequences ; but 
rather by the principles involved in them, and the 
motives of the actors. The sin of our first parents 
was a serious offence, not only as the first sin of 
man, but because it was attended by many circum- 
stances which a righteous judgment would regard as 
aggravations of their iniquity. 

They had no apology for desiring the fruit of this 
tree. The wise man says, " Men do not despise a 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 99 

thief if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is 
hungry/' Prov. vi. 30. That is, when a man must 
starve or eat what is not his own, necessity aflfords 
some extenuation for appropriating the goods of 
another. But God had filled that fruitful garden 
with every good and beautiful tree, to which this first 
pair had free access ; they were the rich possessors 
of abundance, more than they could use ; and they 
should have cast no longing eyes towards that single 
tree which alone had been forbidden. 

The singleness of the tree, the simplicity of the 
Divine command, and the confession of the par- 
ties, prove that they erred through no misapprehen- 
sion of the right. There are complicated moral 
questions whic-h perplex even sincere inquirers after 
truth ; and error seems less flagrant when adopted 
ignorantly. But the first sin was not such a case. 
Adam and Eve knew very well the command laid 
upon them. No deep argument, or long reflection, 
or practical experience was necessary to teach them 
what they should do. The direction was so plain 
that a child could not misunderstand ; nor did they 
ever allege, even in their guilt, that they had not 
fully known their duty. 

The happy pair in Eden were under the greatest 
possible obligation to obey the God who com- 
manded them not to eat of that tree. They 
knew him ; knew his holy character ; knew what 
blessings he had already bestowed upon them ; and 
their Maker and Benefactor had claims which should 



100 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

have kept them steadfast in their obedience. Their 
offence was worse that they listened to the voice of 
such a tempter. It may be that they thought not 
of Satan ; perhaps they knew nothing of him ; they 
saw here possibly only a serpent ; but no living 
creature should have borne comparison in their 
minds with their glorious God; and they should 
not have believed the words of any creature — insig- 
nificant or otherwise — in preference to the words 
of their Creator. 

Moreover, our first parents were distinctly fore- 
warned that death would result from eating of this 
fruit. The full meaning of the term and the fear- 
ful things included in it, they may not have under- 
stood. Doubtless the earth would have known 
many changes by death and like death, if man had 
never sinned. The seasons would have gone their 
rounds and brought their necessary mutations. If 
spring brought forth its blades and blossoms, every 
seed must die before the shoot appeared ; every 
flower must fall before the fruit could form or ripen ; 
and autumn, then as now, must have been a season 
of seared and fallen leaves. So the beasts of the 
earth would die in their times. But during man's 
brief estate of innocency he may have seen too 
little even of these things, to give him any deep 
impressions of the meaning of the term, death. 
Adam may have had a low and feeble idea of the 
evil thus threatened. But sinners very seldom do 
form either a just or a definite idea of the result 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 101 

of their sins. Perhaps no transgressor ever fully 
anticipated the end of his transgression. It is not 
needful to the most complete responsibility that the 
mind should know all the results of our conduct. 
It is enough if the law is fairly known and the lia- 
bility of the sinner to a righteous penalty is recog- 
nized. Our first parents knew that to eat of that 
fruit would bring upon them the disapproval and 
displeasure of the God who had forbidden it. And 
the Divine displeasure — if continued — would itself 
imply the most serious meaning of this term, death, 
even when it refers to an immortal being. Surely 
no soul can be happy when God is displeased. The 
wretchedness of the sinner — especially of one, who, 
like Adam, had known God's" favour — must result 
from his separation from God. 

In contrast with the threatened penalty, was 
the promise fairly implied. Even supposing that 
our first father understood the promise as little as 
he did the threatening ; that is, that he was equally 
unable fully to anticipate the blessings of life eter- 
nal, and the dread meaning of death eternal ; yet 
he knew clearly that by his obedience he would re- 
tain the highest source of permanent happiness in 
the favour and approbation of God. No induce- 
ment should have prevailed to lead him to such an 
exchange of God's approbation for his displeasure. 

Nor should we forget another consideration of 
the very gravest kind, which should have kept back 
our first parents from that great ofi*ence. The first 

9* 



102 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

man, Adam, stood not for himself alone, but as the 
head and representative of all his unborn children. 
We have no detailed and formal account in these 
early chapters of Genesis, of the covenant so made 
with Adam as to make him the representative of 
the human family. Many therefore have denied that 
he did sustain any such relation. Yet all who prop- 
erly consider this important matter ought to ac- 
knowledge these two things : 

First, Adam stood towards the entire human 
family exactly in that relation which will harmonize 
all the teachings that God has given us in regard 
to him. We are bound to hear, not only the book 
of Genesis, but all the word of God : nor should 
y^e fail to gather rays of light from the teachings 
of his providence. Upon this matter David, and 
Hosea, and Paul are witnesses as competent as 
Moses ; and we must receive all the later exposi- 
tions of the Bible which throw light upon the earlier 
narratives. 

Second, the real relation held towards the race 
by Adam was doubtless understood by him. We are 
not to measure his knowledge by the brief records 
of his times ; it is no violent presumption to sup- 
pose that he knew the truth upon a point of such 
importance, even though we are left to gather the 
entire truth from far later teachings. 

Let us keep these thoughts in view. The per- 
sonal duty of Adam to obey God would be the 
same, whether we consider him as acting simply 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. lO'i 

under a law, or as acting under a covenant. His 
responsibility in transgression is greatly increased, 
if he knew that he acted in a public capacity — as 
th^ head and representative of the human race : 
and in this we may find a strong reason for believ- 
ing that the true state of the case was not unknown 
to him. But we say these things not as undervalu- 
ing the teachings of Genesis. We think that we 
can gather proofs from the brief narrative that our 
first father had a full understanding of all that is 
implied in a covenant, and gave his full consent to 
all its terms. 

1. Man was bound to perfect obedience. Of 
this the fruit of the forbidden tree was made a 
special test ; and man accepted of the test. So 
Eve declared, We may eat of every tree but this. 

2. Death was the threatened penalty of disobe- 
dience. 

3. Life was promised upon his obedience. This 
is fairly implied; and the subsequent Scriptures 
often assert it. " Moses describeth the righteous- 
ness which is of the law, that the man which doeth 
these things shall live by them.'' Rom. x. 6. 

4. Not only Adam but all his children after him 
were included in this covenant. The proof of this 
begins with Eve's recognition of the covenant as 
binding her, though made with Adam ; it is strength- 
ened by the actual sentence pronounced, by its exe- 
cution in succeeding ages, and by the teachings of 



104 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

the subsequent Scriptures -which we may notice 
hereafter. 

Surely if Adam understood that this was his re- 
lation to our race, his sin was one of great enormity. 
And different from the opinion often held upon this 
matter, we may not forget to add that the very in- 
significance of the act in itself considered, is a re- 
markable aggravation of that first ofi'ence. When 
very strong inducements are held out to lead any 
one from the path of virtue, we feel more pity for 
the transgressor than when one exchanges innocence 
for guilt upon trifling grounds. We honour a de- 
feated commander who bravely holds his post as 
long as possible against superior forces ; we re- 
proach the cowardice of one who surrenders at the 
first call, without a struggle, and to a feebler force. 
It makes the matter worse, not better, that Adam 
sold Eden, innocence, life, and God's favour for the 
forbidden fruit. 

For reasons like these we cannot agree with the 
opinions of those who make light of man's first sin, 
or who think that matters too grave were made to 
depend upon too small a thing. The smaller the 
inducement to transgression, the greater the ad- 
vantage to man in innocence. The excellent plenty 
of all the garden, contrasted with the fruit of a sin- 
gle tree and the slight gratification it could afford ; 
the simplicity of the command which precluded 
all possibility of mistake ; the obligations under 
which he was to God, and the folly of believing any 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 105 

creature who spoke in plain contradiction of the 
Creator ; the penalty and the promise ; the know- 
ledge that interests so great were involved in that 
solemn covenant; and the very insignificance of 
that tempting fruit ; all these things make the trans- 
gression of Adam most serious indeed. And finally 
his first estate ; no bias of sin inclining him to evil, 
no darkness of understanding clouding his views, in 
perfect holiness, having everything to make him 
happy, must be thought the aggravation of his of- 
fence. His inexperience of evil was an advantage. 
For he was advertised of his danger ; the very name 
of the forbidden tree was a warning ; and innocence 
is a better protection against threatening evils, than 
a partial experience has ever proved to be. We 
rank Adam among the chief of sinners, and esteem 
the first sin as one of peculiar enormity. Applying 
our usual tests to ascertain the heinous nature of 
any ofi*ence, we can have no sympathy with those 
who judge man's first ofience a trifle. 



106 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE TEMPTATION. 

We may now draw near the scene of temptation. 
We have no just reason to think that the inspired 
records give us a full account of any part of the 
history. These are brief sketches, not full details. 
The words of Moses have been compared to our 
modern telegraphic despatches ; few words are used 
to express a great deal of meaning; we learn much, 
yet we crave more, especially in regard to these 
important early scenes, we greatly desire fuller 
communications. '^Who is there among us that 
would not give twenty of the best volumes from his 
shelves, for twenty lines which should acquaint him 
with the condition of our first parents during the 
first years after the fall and their expulsion from 
paradise?"* And truly a larger knowledge of the 
fall itself would be no less interesting. 

The tempter, we are told, approached not Adam, 
but Eve, apparently by herself and unguarded. 
The Apostle Paul says that " Adam was not de- 

^ Kitto, Bible 111. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 107 

ceived, but the woman being deceived was in the 
transgression/' 1 Tim. ii. 14. Some understand 
this to mean that Adam, finding that Eve had al- 
ready transgressed, chose to join her, though fully 
aware of the evil consequences. This is the inter- 
pretation put upon his first sin by Milton in Para- 
dise Lost. But the apostle may simply mean that 
Eve sinned first. 

Notice the manner of his approach, that we may 
learn his methods in temptation. He begins by in- 
sinuating, rather than by expressing, hard thoughts 
of God. He affects to feel surprise that any tree 
of the garden should be forbidden to them. But 
having engaged her attention and awakened a train 
of reflections suitable for his purposes, he speaks 
plainly and boldly in contradiction of the kindness 
of their Creator. And we may well notice that de- 
ceivers often command our belief of the barest and 
most mischievous falsehood, by the very boldness 
and assurance with which they assert them. Our 
confidence is naturally called forth towards sincerity, 
and error often spreads because its bold advocates 
seem sincere. Satan is first surprised that God had 
forbidden this tree ; but how soon he ventures to 
deny boldly that the prohibition is disinterested ! 
He declares that death shall not follow their eating 
of it, and that, indeed, knowledge like to God him- 
self will result. Nor is it unlikely that he appealed 
to the very name of the tree as a confession, that a 



108 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

desirable knowledge beyond their present estate, 
would be secured by their eating. 

Doubtless advantage was taken to address our 
first mother when she stood in sight of the tree it- 
self. '' The woman saw that the tree was good for 
food.'' There is danger in drawing near tempta- 
tion, even when we are aware of its nature, and are 
most upon our guard. The wise man warns us, 
'' Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass 
away." The voice of the tempter finds a great 
auxiliary in the eye of the tempted ; alas ! we are 
already in greater peril when we consent to look. 
Eve heard a voice at which she should have stopped 
her ear the moment she understood the object ; she 
looked upon that fair fruit just when she ought to 
have turned away. 

We may not be able to trace the course of feel- 
ing in the first transgressor. But distrust of God 
seems to have been the first wrong thought. And 
when jealousy of him entered her mind, "when 
Eve let go her hold upon that glorious benefactor, 
till then absolutely loved, venerated, and trusted, 
she was prepared for every thing which could fol- 
low. ' ' * She could begin then to believe that the advan- 
tages promised by the tempter should indeed be hers. 
And w^hen in obedience already to a false lord, she 
looked upon the tree ; when the lust of the eye 
made way for the lust of the flesh, the pride of 
being like God was not far off. The tree was pleas- 
* Dwight's Theology, i. 407. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 109 

ant to the sight ; here is the lust of the eye. It 
was good for food ; here is the appetite for sensual 
indulgence. It was a tree to be desired to make 
one wise ; here is the pride of life. 

This sin, like so many that have succeeded it in 
human experience, came into gradual strength to 
secure her downfall. She indulged irreverent 
thoughts of God : she desired to taste the beautiful 
fruit ; she aspired to the expected knowledge, that 
she might be as God ; she hoped that the threat- 
ened evil would not result. In all this scene, though 
the matter is of so great importance. Eve seems to 
have relied wholly upon her own strength. We 
hear of no counselling with Adam, though they 
were mutual helpers, and he doubtless was not far 
off. We hear of no looking up to God in this hour 
of need. How many prayers, how many agonizing 
petitions for the pardon of sin, would have been 
spared by one brief petition then offered for sin's 
prevention ! 

She looked upon the tree, desired it, partook of 
it. Nor was this all. Then she sought for her 
husband, and turning tempter in her turn, as sin- 
ners usually do, she gave also to her husband, and he 
did eat. Thus sin entered our world. "Behold 
how great a matter a little fire kindleth." This is 
the beginning ; who can tell the end ? Well might 
our great English poet represent the sympathy of 
suffering nature in this sad event. 
10 



110 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

'* Earth trembled from her entrails 

Nature gave a groan, 
Sky lowered and muttering thunder some sad drops 
"Wept at completing of the mortal sin 
Original.'* 

Par. Lost, ix. 

Among the immediate consequences of this sin 
upon our first parents, we may notice that they did 
indeed gain a knowledge of good and evil ; but in 
no such sense as they understood from the words of 
the tempter. They felt immediately shame at their 
own nakedness, and attempted by a frail covering 
of fig leaves to clothe themselves. But they felt 
also, now for the first time, unwilling to meet the 
God whose displeasure they knew they deserved. 
And see here not only the fears but the usual de- 
ceits of sin. They are foolish enough to attempt 
concealment even from the eye of God. And when 
their hiding among the trees of the garden so little 
availed them, we find that these unhappy sinners 
have learned the language of falsehood. But even 
their untrue reason for concealing themselves only 
serves for an undesigned confession of their guilt. 
And when the searching inquiry is made if they 
had eaten of the tree, we see the usual character- 
istic of sin in the self-justifying spirit that would 
throw the blame any where else but upon them- 
selves. 

Our first parents show in this first interview with 
their Maker, not only that they are sinners, but 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. Ill 

impenitent sinners. They are ashamed ; they are 
conscience stricken ; but they use concealment, 
falsehood, and self justification. We are not to 
regard them as hardened offenders ; but neither are 
they humble and penitent. Indeed they had no 
just ground for approaching their offended God with 
any hope of acceptance ; and we do not believe 
that true penitence toward him has ever existed in 
any guilty mind, save as it is awakened in view of 
his readiness to forgive. The prospects before the 
mind of fallen Adam were dark indeed. Foolish 
as he was to hide from God, it was quite natural that 
he should shrink from seeing Him ; and yet, alas ! 
the tree has added very little to his stock of know- 
ledge, if he judges that his falsehoods can pass un- 
discovered. 

See in them the proof that it is not in the power 
of outward things to bestow happiness upon the soul 
of man. Adam and his wife were still in that happy 
Paradise which God had specially prepared for 
their comfort. The same cool walks invited them ; 
the same shady trees protected them ; the same 
ripe fruits hung around to invite their taste ; and 
they still had each other's society. But the garden 
was not the same to them. A new crowd of 
thoughts within changed all the aspects of nature 
without. Fear, suspicion, shame, and guilt are the 
new inhabitants of Eden ; and peace, and happi- 
ness, and even hope fled as these took possession 



112 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of the noblest dwelling place in the garden — the 
only palace God had built in Paradise — even the 
heart of man. 

And here we may see that, had man been left to 
himself, the breach between him and God would 
have been irreparable. He no longer desires to see 
God ; he hides himself from his presence. He is not 
a hardened sinner, but already he feels like shun- 
ning God. And if this was his state of mind, it is 
not the natural tendency of sin to make things any 
better. If Adam had voluntarily come before God 
frankly confessing his oflFence, it would seem ingen- 
uous and right. He had committed but one sin ; 
he had formerly known God's favour ; his heart 
was not made obdurate by repeated offences. Yet 
he made no movement of this kind. And as we 
know that these matters always grow worse rather 
than better ; as repeated sin hardens the heart and 
never softens it ; as it sends men further and fur- 
ther away from God, and never seems to draw them 
closer ; so we may reasonably believe that if Adam 
did not repent immediately upon the shame of his 
first offence, there was no natural tendency towards 
repentance in any future period of his course. 
The estrangement of man from God w^as total ; 
every new step was further departure ; death had 
already begun its work in him ; and so long as 
Adam lived — if even he lived for ever — he could 
not look up with the filial feelings of a son towards 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 113 

God, as his heavenly Father. There was no hope 
for man in that dreadful day ; there was no hope 
for ever ; unless God, by a mercy never before 
shown, should make the first overtures to heal the 
fearful breach. 
10* 



114 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE GOSPEL ANNOUNCED. 

*' Never was sung a sweeter word, 
Nor fuller music e'er was heard, 
Nor deeper aught the heart hath stirred." 

How wretched, indeed, would the lot of our first 
parents have been, if God had dealt with them ac- 
cording to their sin ; or waited to show mercy until 
they had first shown relentings and repentance ! 
But having led them to an unwilling confession, be- 
fore proceeding to pass upon them the sentence of 
his law, he judges their tempter and opens for them 
a door of hope. It may be true that many pre- 
sumptuous men sin yet more because of the mercy 
of God ; it is also true that a knowledge of his 
mercy is an essential element of evangelical repent- 
ance. Had God spoken his sentence first upon our 
first parents, despair must have filled their minds ; 
but he intimates the plan of the gospel, before he 
declares the results of their sin, or sends them forth 
from Paradise. 

The first sentence of the Divine displeasure is 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 115 

pronounced upon the serpent. This may be con- 
sidered in two parts : 

First, there is the curse directed against the ani- 
mal, the serpent itself. Satan had used this as an 
instrument to effect his evil purpose; and God so 
abhors sin, that the very instruments of it, fall 
under his curse. The serpent must go upon its 
belly and eat the dust ; and its head must be bruised. 
Possibly, as we have before suggested, this animal 
previously moved in a spiral manner ; now it must 
be prbne. And the curse of enmity between it and 
man, exists yet to a remark'^ble degree. No class 
of animals is more universally dreaded and hated 
by man than the race of serpents. Nor can this 
fear and aversion spring from the venomous charac- 
ter of the reptile. Out of three hundred species 
of serpents in the world, two hundred and fifty are 
harmless ; some of them are beautiful ; all are 
graceful ; and yet, by a kind of instinctive antipa- 
thy, men hate the sight of them. It is not even 
pleasant to talk about them. Even those that are 
known to be harmless are almost invariably killed 
as soon as seen ; and the usual mode of killing a 
serpent is to break its head. These things wonder- 
fully agree with this earliest prediction of the 
Bible. 

Secondly, the burden of the curse did not rest 
upon the animal. The true tempter was Satan, and 
the curse is therefore chiefly upon him. But the 
sentence against man's malignant enemy is a blessing 



116 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

really upon the man. When, therefore, God de- 
clares that enmity shall exist between the woman 
and the serpent, between their seed respectively, 
and a conflict ending in the bruising of his head, he 
speaks a blessing to us. If our first parents had 
been in a suitable frame of mind, perhaps this 
blessing would have been addressed directly to 
them ;* but as Adam has made only unwilling ac- 
knowledgments, God's designs of grace are re- 
vealed in the form of threatening against the ser- 
pent. 

It is agreed among evangelical commentators that 
this sentence against Satan contains the first pro- 
mise of the gospel. This is the germ — like a grain 
of mustard seed — from which springs forth that 
great tree beneath whose shade innumerable multi- 
tudes find rest and life. 

It is not needful for us to ask. How much did our 
first parents understand of these words ? It is 
rather our place to inquire, What do they really 
mean ? Truth is like light ; a very little of it is 
of invaluable excellence, though the clearer it is the 
better. Doubtless they knew more of the meaning 
of these words afterwards ; but our understanding 
of truth does not always depend upon the clearness 
with which it is spoken. These expressive words 
imply plainly a conflict, especially between the seed 
of the woman and the seed of the serpent, in which 
the victory shall remain with the woman. This 
* A. Fuller. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 117 

much our first parents might know as soon as they 
heard the voice of God; but we, who have seen this 
seed of Scriptural prophecies grow into larger pre- 
dictions, and bring forth the fruit of actual fulfil- 
ment, may better know its fulness of meaning. 

1. By the seed of the woman we may chiefly un- 
derstand the great Redeemer our Lord Jesus Christ. 

There are many reasons why the Saviour of fallen 
man should himself be a man. That in the same 
nature that had broken the law, obedience should 
be rendered and satisfaction made, seemed eminently 
proper. But to give us also boldness of access to 
God; and to enable him to sympathize with us, 
having a fellow-feeling of our infirmities, (Heb. li. 
iii.) ; and in the superaboundings of God's grace, 
to advance the dignity of our nature, are the further 
Divine purposes in giving us a human Redeemer. 
But the Redeemer must not be only a man. A 
man and nothing more — a member of the fallen race 
in all its liabilities, could be no Saviour of the 
fallen. We may therefore expect to find, in this 
early proclamation of the gospel, a mystery; an 
enigmatical expression of truth to be explained 
hereafter. This bruiser of Satan's head is to be 
human, yet separated from the ordinary humanity ; 
a man, yet not simply of the race ; partaker of the 
nature, yet not partaker of the liabilities of the na- 
ture of man. Mark the expression, " the woman's 
seed." Mark the fact that, as man had already 
fallen, this promised Deliverer was not represented 



118 ADAM AND HIS TIME^. 

by Adam in the covenant of Eden. Not the seed 
of Adam, but of the woman ; not promised before, 
but after the fall, there is but one person of all 
history who fully answers the terms of this first 
prophecy ; the child born of a virgin in Bethlehem 
of Judea. 

An interesting chapter of human opinions could 
easily be gathered in the illustrations which pagan- 
ism affords of this first declaration of the gospel. 
The serpent plays a most important part in the fall 
of man, according to the traditions of many pagan 
nations. Dr. Kitto mentions an ancient bas-relief 
thus described: — ''At one hand are a man and 
woman standing naked under a tree, the woman in 
a drooping and disconsolate posture, the man with 
one hand raised to the tree, and the other directed 
towards the woman. It is such a picture that a 
child would at once say, ' That is Adam and Eve.' 
At the other extremity is a sedate and august figure 
seated upon a rock and strangling the serpent with 
his hand."* " By consulting Moore's Hindu Pan- 
theon it will be seen that the serpent, Caliya, is re- 
presented as the decided enemy of the mediatorial 
God, Krishna, whom he persecutes, and on whom 
he inflicts various sufi'erings, though he is at length 
vanquished. Krishna, pressed within the folds of 
the serpent, and then triumphing over him and 
bruising his head beneath his feet, is the subject of 
a very ancient Hindu bas-relief and carries with it 

^ Kitto, Bib. 111. i. 60. Creuzer's Symbolik., pi. 158. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 119 

its own interpretation.*" So the great prince pro- 
mised in the famous Sybilline leaves of the Ro- 
mans, was to abolish injustice and violent death, 
kill the serpent, purge the earth of poisons, and es- 
tablish universal peace. f But we need not add to 
these here. They seem evidently to spring from 
the remembrance of this first prophecy, as handed 
down through the channel of oral tradition. 

2. But while the term, "the seed of the woman" 
applies primarily to none so well as to the Lord 
Jesus Christ — who was the son of the woman, and 
who was not a partaker of Adam's fall — yet it is 
proper to understand it also of all the servants and 
followers of Christ. When Paul explains — Gal. iii. 
16, — that the seed promised to Abraham preemi- 
nently signifies Christ, this does not prevent him 
from saying further that every believer in Christ is 
also of the seed of Abraham. Gal. iii. 26, 29. A 
man may be of the seed of Abraham naturally by 
his descent from Abraham : or he may be of his 
seed spiritually by being partaker of his princi- 
ples, especially of his faith. The seed of the woman 
and the seed of the serpent do not merely signify 
the principal persons here named; the followers of 
Christ and the followers of Satan are also meant. 
So the Scriptures frequently teach that wicked men 
are the children of the devil. " Ye are of your 
father, the devil, and the lusts of your father ye 
will do," said our Lord to the Jews. John viii. 44. 

* Watson's Theology, p. 20. f Yirgil Buc. Ec. iv._ 



120 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

The children of God and the children of the devil 
are manifest by their principles and their works. 1 
John iii. 10. In this just threatening against the 
tempter, the line of distinction is drawn to run 
through all time, to divide "between him that 
serveth God and him that serveth him not.'' Mai. 
iii. 18. 

3. The words of this threatening imply a long 
struggle between conflicting parties, and the partial 
power of the wicked one to injure the woman's 
seed. The serpent was to bruise the heel of the 
seed of the woman. 

The fierce warfare of wrong against right, of 
error against truth, of evil against good, is here 
foretold. Herein are signified the humiliation, sor- 
rows, and death of the great Redeemer. Satan 
had the power to assault the Mediator ; to raise up 
against him cruel and bloody men, and to put him 
to a shameful death. But his severest assaults were 
vain, and the sorest success did no permanent in- 
jury to the Suff'erer. The prince of darkness had 
nothing in him. Even when he took his life, the 
cross was the scene of triumph, and the grave could 
not hold the victim. The heel is not a vital part ; 
and all that Satan could effect against the incarnate 
Son of God was to as little purpose as if a man 
should bruise the heel of his adversary with a stone. 

And herein is predicted that long conflict which 
has ever since existed between God's believing 
people and their great adversary. From the be- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 121 

ginning there has been warfare. Cain slew Abel 
Ms brother, '' because his own works were evil and 
his brother's righteous." 1 John iii. 12. And the 
fierceness of this strife has filled the world with 
grief. It is true indeed that shame, and strife, and 
violence, and wrong, fill even those portions of the 
^arth where the sway of the god of this world is 
least disputed. But Satan fights hardest when the 
seed of the woman withstands him. The history of 
the church of God is full of the records of this 
most deadly strife. So a leader in the sacramental 
.host exhorts us, " Beloved, think it not strange con- 
cerning the fiery trial that is to try you.'' 1 Pet. iv. 
12. What an arsenal of weapons is at the com- 
mand of Satan, and what a catalogue could the 
church furnish of the arms that have been used 
against her — lies, heresies, vain philosophy, subtle 
errors, earthly afi*ections, love, fear, ambition, ava- 
rice, envy, and revenge. Those that would serve 
him have been drawn to him by gold, and last, and 
power : those that dare oppose him have been the 
subjects of manifold persecutions. They have been 
reviled by the wise, scorned by the world, cast ofi" 
by near and dear friends, and defamed shamefully 
in their most innocent doings. They have been 
stoned, sawn asunder, destitute, afflicted, banished 
to deserts, and mountains, and dens and caves; 
they have been cast to the wild beasts, beheaded, 
crucified ; they have been racked with unheard of 
tortures, burned at the stake, and dishonoured in 
11 



122 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

deeds without name ; secluded in the dungeons of 
the Inquisition ; exposed in the shame of an Auto 
da Fe; in short, crucified by pagans, burned by 
heretics, drowned by atheists, and massacred by 
every form of the serpent's seed. The time would 
fail to name the means ; the time would fail to men- 
tion the numbers of those whom Satan has slain for 
the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 

Look back upon the history of the church in the 
light of human reason, and we may fear to enlist 
under her banners. What an array of sorrows 
and sufferings belongs here ! Yet all these are sor- 
rows for righteousness' sake ; and the world's best 
blessings have been bought with the struggles and 
the blood of the people of Christ. But look on 
these things in the light of faith, and how difi*erent 
it seems ! AH these sorrows are but the bruising 
of a man's heel. Magnify them if you choose, and 
as much as you please ; and so long as the prom- 
ises of a faithful God declare that even in this life 
"we shall receive a hundred fold more;" that "the 
sufi'erings of this present time are not worthy to be 
compared with the glory that shall be revealed;" 
and that " our light affliction which is but for a 
moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory," we surely need not re- 
pine. If the bruising of the heel means so much 
and yet effects so little, the bruising of the ser- 
pent's head must be his utter destruction. But 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 123 

the end is not yet. Happy are they who endure 
the cross in patient waiting for the triumph. 

It is our happiness to hear the gospel preached 
far more plainly than in its first intimation in dis- 
honoured Eden. Let it not be our greater folly 
and guilt to neglect so great salvation. 



124 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE SENTENCE UPON EVE. 

** Not she, with treacherous kiss, the Saviour stung, 
iN'ot she denied him with blaspheming tongue ; 
She, when apostles shrank, could danger brave, 
Last at his cross and earliest at his grave." 

We have seen that the curse pronounced upon 
the tempter included in it a large blessing for sinful 
man. And we should not fail to admire the mercy 
of God which is thus declared to man, not only in 
advance of the sentence upon his guilt, but before 
any tokens of his repentance. We may now fur- 
ther see that even the sentence of condemnation, 
like a dark cloud, whose bright edges give notice 
that there is light behind, is mingled with tokens of 
Divine forbearance. 

The sentence pronounced upon the woman is sim- 
ple and easily understood ; and the proof is full and 
abundant that it applies not to Eve alone, but to the 
entire succession of her daughters in all ages since. 
Attachment to her husband, subjection to his au- 
thority, and sorrow in the birth of her children, are 
elements in the common lot of woman. But there 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 125 

is just reason for declaring that good often springs 
forth from these very evils, and the sorrows of their 
estate have often proved a rich blessing to the fe- 
male sex. 

It is a very common remark that women are more 
religious than men. In our congregations, it is a 
very rare case where the attendance of women is 
not larger than that of men ; more women make a 
profession of piety ; fewer women disgrace their pro- 
fession or decline from it ; and, upon the average, 
their piety is more serious and deeper. The female 
sex have greatly the advantage in religious things, 
if we judge from the actual facts in Christian 
churches. And in systems of false religion, Satan, 
their author, seems to have an especial spite against 
the women. Made aware that his cunning in tempt- 
ing the first woman is to recoil in special destruc- 
tion upon his own head ; knowing that woman is 
ever to efiect much against him ; and not ignorant, 
that if, as at the first, he can cast her down to sin, 
he can thus best war against the man, Satan has 
carried on his warfare most resolutely against the 
daughters of Eve, and wherever he rules, woman is 
sure to be degraded. It is, doubtless, also through 
his special enmity against woman, that among the 
heathen the unnatural but prevalent crime of in- 
fanticide is practised almost exclusively against 
their female children. We need not repeat what 
was said in a former chapter of the tendency of the 
Bible to speak kindly of woman, to elevate her con- 
11^ 



126 ADAM AND TIIS TIMES. 

dition, and to bless the entire race of man through 
her elevation. 

The very sorrows of Avoman have been made sub- 
servient to her spiritual interests, wherever the Bible 
is known and she is instructed in its great teach- 
ings. She suffers more than man usually does ; and 
the very quietness and seclusion of her ordinary 
duties tend to make her sufferings of a more pro- 
fitable character. The very independence which 
man usually asserts is a great disadvantage ; since 
true piety consists not in the exercise of pride, but 
specially in humility, meekness, forbearance, and 
patience. The trials w^hich fall to the lot of woman 
are eminently adapted to call forth all these meeker 
emotions ; she has less opportunity to shake off 
from her the influence of her cares. When men 
are vexed and troubled, they go forth to active du- 
ties in a busy, bustling world, and their griefs are 
lost in their cares for other things. It is quite 
otherwise with w^oman. When about her ordinary 
duties, she can let her mind dwell upon serious or 
afflicting thoughts ; the quiet of home serves to 
make her impressions deeper ; and if it sometimes 
happens that she lets her troubles prey too much 
upon her, because she has less opportunities to throw 
them off, or to unbosom them to others, yet she is 
frequently driven to tell her griefs at the throne of 
grace — the sanctuary for the afflicted, whose gates 
are not shut either by day or by night — and those 
sorrows are made happy which bring her to know 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 12T 

the tender mercy of God. Let not the daughters 
of Eve repine. Through sorrow many a suffering 
woman has been led to him who dries the mourner's 
tears. Through sorrow many such have found the 
path to heaven. And many a sweet voice in the 
heavenly choirs will sing eternal praises for earth's 
bitter hours. And the bitterer earth is, the sweeter 
the song in heaven will be. 

Through these sorrows, sanctified in woman's 
experience, God brings a blessing upon the race. 
For the sake of the entire family of man are these 
strong providential guards thrown around female 
piety. Children are usually what their mothers 
make them. The substantial character of most men 
is formed in early life ; and in the most important 
period of existence, the influence of the mother is 
paramount. The cares and duties of the father — 
whatever may be his inclination — keep him away 
from his children. But the mother's chief cares 
are with them ; they are almost constantly in her 
presence ; their first lisping words they catch from 
her fond lips ; they are scholars of hers from the 
very earliest age ; they watch every expression of 
her eye ; imitate her in every movement ; and in- 
terpret and adopt her spirit. God has taken care 
that there shall be more piety among women, be- 
cause he thus secures a more careful education of 
children in pious lessons. Children have before 
them the best and not the worst specimens of the 
race for their example. Even mothers who are not 



128 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

themselves pious, teach religious lessons to their 
children ; restrain them from evil ; wish them to 
fear God ; and often are led themselves to Christ by 
responsibilities and anxieties which their children 
awaken. Few are the men who do not hold sacred 
and dear the memory of their mothers. 

*' My mother's voice ! How often creeps 

Its cadence o'er my lonely hours, 
Like healing sent on wings of sleep 

Or dew to the unconscious flowers ; 
I can't forget her melting prayer 

E'en while my pulses madly fly, 
And in the still, unhroken air 

Her gentle tones come stealing by ; 
And years, and sin, and manhood flee. 
And leave me at my mother's knee." 

Surely this much may be added to these reflec- 
tions : that piety is the crowning virtue of female 
character ; that no woman can live in a land puri- 
fied by the influence of Christianity, and can make 
the contrast between her condition and that of her 
unhappy sisters in foreign lands, and yet keep 
back her heart from the great Redeemer here re- 
vealed, without incurring guilt of a fearful and pe- 
culiar character. The Bible — woman's benefactor 
— should be every woman's blessed instructor. Jesus 
Christ, born of a woman, should be every woman's 
chosen Saviour. But especially, how unbecoming 
are scornful and scofiing words against religion 
upon woman's lips ! There are some who ridicule re- 



ADAM AXI> HIS TIIMES. 129 

ligion; ridicule the seriousness of their companions; 
ridicule the truths and the ordinances of God ; and 
speak jestingly of salvation and of the things that 
pertain to it. But those who descend to such guilt 
and folly certainly gain nothing to themselves of 
good or of honour. Especially no well taught, 
sensible man can ever be pleased with scoffs upon 
female lips. The very men who might join in such 
scorning, in the company of reckless men, turn 
with disgust from the cant of infidelity or the heart- 
lessness of irreligion in a woman. The woman who 
can speak flippantly of marriage or of the Bible, 
strikes from beneath her own feet the bridge that 
bears her above a yawning chasm. So even the 
worldly poet before quoted expresses a just view of 
such a case. 

" Oh, what is woman, what her smile, 

Her look of love, her eyes of light, 
What is she, if her lips revile 

The lowly Jesus ? Love may write 
His name upon her marble brow, 

And linger in her curls of jet ; 
The pale spring flowers may scarcely bow 

Beneath her step ; and yet, and yet 
"Without that meeker grace shall be, 

A lighter thing than vanity !" 



130 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XV. 

LABOUR. 

'* Oh mortal man who livest here by toil, 

Do not complain of this thy hard estate ; 
That like an emmet thou must ever moil, 

Is a sad sentence of an ancient date : 

And, certes, there is reason for it great ; 
For though sometimes it makes thee weep and wail, 

And curse thy day and early drudge and late, 
Withouten that would come a heavier bale. 
Loose life, unruly passions, and diseases pale." 

Thomson. 

We next consider some of the facts connected 
with the curse pronounced upon Adam. 

The Lord God declared a curse upon the ground 
for man's sake. As the earth was created for man, 
as he is the only intelligent, rational, and immortal 
being upon it, so the globe is specially adapted to 
him, both in what it has, and in what it lacks; both 
in its blessings and in its curses. In the later 
Scriptures an apostle assures us that through man's 
sin the whole world groaneth, and the created things 
around us are made subject to vanity. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 131 

Yet as labour is necessary to the happiness of 
man, as it existed before the fall, and as it is only 
upon man, the sinner, that God laid it as a toilsome 
burden ; we may believe that the curse spoken 
against the ground, consisted in using for the Divine 
purposes things which already existed, but that 
were not grievous until man had fallen under God's 
displeasure. We need not think that while man 
was innocent in the garden the world had no sterile 
spots, no noxious weeds, no growth of thorns and 
thistles. It is enough to be assured that the earth 
would furnish fertile grounds sufficient for the 
growing population of mankind ; that light labour 
would have sufficed to secure abundant supplies for 
the human family ; and that no noxious or trouble- 
some growth of thorns and briers would have cum- 
bered the ground. It seems not likely that any 
new plants were created after the fall of man, and 
with a special view to vex his labours in tilling the 
earth. But we know now that weeds grow easily ; 
that even the most unproductive seasons are suffi- 
ciently fruitful in them ; that they are hard to de- 
stroy ; and that they greatly increase the toils of 
the husbandman. The immense abundance of 
plants for which man has learned no use ; their easy 
spread, and that without cultivation, and even in 
spite of careful diligence ; the sterility of the soil ; 
and perhaps the numerous dangers of frost and 
drought, of worm and insect, of blight and rot, 
which fill the life of the husbandman with continual 



132 ADAM AND IIIS TIMES, 

apprehension ; may be reckoned among the evils of 
this first curse.* 

These things all enter into the toil of man. As 
already said, work belonged to him before the fall ; 
even then Adam was the keeper of the garden. 
But a genial and delightful employment is widely 
different from a toilsome task ; and what we can do 
cheerfully when no disappointments threaten, when 
no useless growth supplies the place of that for 
which we labour, and when we can gather our full 
sheaves with rejoicing hands, is done with reluctant 
energy when severer efforts promise a more doubt- 
ful issue. The labour of the husbandman is toil, 
wearing toil, incessant toil. It is made so, not only 
by the nature of his employment, and the ever re- 
-curring necessity, that year by year he must do over 
again the things already done ; but various things 
make this labour specially toilsome. Sometimes a 
sterile soil, sometimes imperfect means of cultiva- 
tion, drought and frost, storm and flood, cutting 

■^ I extract the following from a newspaper, without the 
means of deciding upon the truth of its extraordinary state- 
ments : 

Abundance of Weeds. — An English botanist discovered, 
by careful examination, 7,600 weed seeds in a pint of clover- 
seed, 12,600 in a pint of congress-seed, 39,440 in a pint of 
broad clover, and 25,500 of Dutch clover-seed. In a single 
plant of black mustard he counted over 8,000 seeds, and in a 
specimen of charlock 4,000 ; the seed of a single plant of com- 
mon dock produced 4,700 little docks. The white daisy has 
over 400 seeds in each flower, and sometimes 50 flowers from 
'one root. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 133 

worms and devouring insects, are the disadvantages 
against which he must labour. Anxiety for the 
issue of these toils hovers like a dark cloud over 
every farm house from seed time to harvest, and 
from harvest to seed time. Every opening spring 
is full of forebodings for the coming harvest ; nor 
do the repeated answers of providence, usually so 
much better than the thoughts of man, serve to re- 
press the new fears of every recurring year. It is 
not simply the hard work of the field that must be 
included in our thoughts of the labour of culti- 
vating the earth. The solicitude, the watchfulness, 
the responsibility, the burden of care — all these 
without remission ; all these growing more weighty 
in ordinary human experience till men no longer 
have strength to bear them — these and all that 
they imply, are included in the declaration, " In 
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.*' 

We have in this remarkable declaration an im- 
portant example of the methods of Scriptural 
teaching. No writing ever given to man says so 
much in so little compass as the sacred Scriptures. 
It is the common custom with the inspired writers 
to select one striking example out of a class of doc- 
trines or duties, and to embody in it the most valu- 
able, important, and instructive principles to govern 
the entire class. In the ten commandments we 
have the whole duty of man comprised in a very 
brief space ; and if we take each separate command 
into consideration, we will find that the mention of 
12 



134 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

one matter of chief importance is designed to in- 
clude under it every minor matter belonging to the 
same class with it. Thus idolatry is the worst form 
of malpractice in the worship of God ; disobedience 
to parents is the worst form of resistance to lawful 
authority; killing, the worst form of violence to 
man ; and adultery, the worst form of impurity. 
The law therefore mentions these by name ; but it 
designs to forbid with them every species of in- 
iquity akin to them. So upon the interpretation 
of the Scriptures themselves, we know that covet- 
ousness is idolatry, an unchaste look is adultery, 
and hatred to a brother is murder. In like manner 
the Lord's prayer endorses every needful principle 
for our devotions ; and if we consider the particular 
petitions, we may see that every acceptable petition 
that man should oflFer to God may be classified to 
fall under one or other clause of this sixfold prayer. 
So there are single parables spoken by our Lord ; 
and single miracles wrought by his power ; and 
single conversions recorded in the Bible ; and single 
sentences uttered by the inspired writers, that may 
be justly interpreted as including every important 
principle that is needful to establish the authority 
and the grace of the gospel, or to give instruction 
and comfort to sinful men. 

Interpreting these solemn words in Eden by this 
remarkable characteristic of Scriptural teachings, 
it cannot be called in question that labour and toil 
belong to the sons of Adam in every age and 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 135 

climate and in every condition of life. The curse 
is not confined to the mere culture of the earth. 
This alone is named, not simply because it was the 
especial employment of Adam, but because there is 
no other employment in human life upon which man 
is so dependent. We may certainly say of the cul- 
tivation of the earth more than of any other human 
duty, that it is absolutely essential to man's exis- 
tence. One single year of sterility and barrenness 
of the earth's products over all the world would be 
followed by distress such as the history of man has 
never seen ; and five years without a harvest would 
leave the world a waste, without seed to sow for 
coming years and without a man to need it. " The 
profit of the earth is for all ; the king himself is 
served by the field.'' Ecc. v. 9. The earth is the 
common mother of us all ; from her products we 
live ; the culture of the ground as the most impor- 
tant kind of labour, is the fitting representative of 
human toil. 

It is not alone the man that tills the earth who 
feels this first curse of labour. We need not here 
make any comparisons of men's avocations ; or at- 
tempt to show that in this or that line of life, the 
surest success and the largest content will crown 
our labours. While we may simply and justly ac- 
knowledge that honourable, contented, successful, 
and useful industry may as often be found among 
men that till the ground as anywhere else on earth ; 
what we now say is that this early curse equally 



136 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

belongs to all other human labours, and, indeed, 
is inseparable from man*s estate. Weary limbs, 
and heavy hearts, and anxious minds are every- 
where upon the earth ; painful toils, disappointed 
hopes, and fruitless efforts form part of every man's 
experience ; sorrow in labour, the sweating of the 
face, and results like to thorns and thistles are 
found in all our work. The curse belongs to every 
trade, every profession, and every time. With the 
increase of population in every land, especially with 
the advancement of the race in the arts of civilized 
life, the engagements of men become more numer- 
ous ; distinctions of rank and wealth increase in 
society ; some men never tan their faces with the 
glare of the sun, or harden their hands with the 
axe or the plough ; and some, born to rank and af- 
fluence, are clothed in purple and fare sumptuously 
every day. Yet there is no human abode exempt 
from the curse of the fall. It is a great mistake to 
judge that the great Ahasuerus can bar his palace 
gates against anxiety and sorrow, though he may 
forbid sackcloth to enter; or that the diamond valve 
of the rich man's heart never opens at the touch of 
care. Labour, corroding thoughts, restless anxie- 
ties, belong to man. The palace is their abode ; 
they hover over the couch of the wealthy; they in- 
trude into the sleeping and the waking hours of the 
wise man ; they know no distinctions of rank, or place, 
or power. Indeed among the compensations of Divine 
Providence which set men substantially more upon 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 137 

a level with each other, it has often been noted that 
more happiness and less corroding care can be found 
in those members of society who hold little in pos- 
session, than among their richer neighbours. Nor 
is it simply because men are prone to be troubled 
by things present, and to look back with regret to 
the past, that many a rich man is ready to say that 
he was never more happy than in his earlier days 
of poverty and cheerful but humble labour. 

We may not overlook this, among the great 
mercies of God, that the sentence thus pronounced 
in Paradise is not purely a curse. This human toil 
which Providence has made so inseparable from hu- 
man life, may still, when controlled by the fear of 
God and by wise views of human duty, react as a 
blessing ; and no man passes a more miserable life 
than he who spends his time as an idler. While 
the rich have their weighty cares as truly as the 
poor ; while he that increaseth substance increaseth 
sorrow; while through constant solicitude and anxi- 
eties, a truly contented man is a rare thing upon 
the earth, we may bless God that even the curse 
of labour is not without its aspects of good. 

We have no kind of sympathy with those who 
regard labour as a menial or a degrading thing ; we 
regard it as both unwise and wicked to wish to live 
without labour ; we have no patience with those 
who grasp after the comforts of life, and yet are 
ashamed of the honest industry by which these 
have been secured to them ; and we treat that as 
12* 



138 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

ignorant folly that would array one class of labour- 
ers against another in the arrangements of human 
society. 

There are many proper objects of human indus- 
try ; not all of equal importance, yet the least im- 
portant not calling for any contempt ; our compari- 
sons, indeed, are likely to be made in ignorance or 
prejudice. And this is our just rule of judgment : 
that whatever is useful for man is worthy to be held 
in honour by man. There is a toil that pales the 
cheek, and weakens the arm, and wears out this 
tenement of flesh, as well as a toil that bathes the 
face in sweat and gives strength to every muscle. 
And in these times when the busy industry of life 
in every department of labour owes so much to the 
inventive genius, and the patient investigation, and 
the abstract thoughts of studious men, it is too late 
to draw invidious distinctions between productive 
and non-productive labour. It is high time that 
rational men should everywhere recognize that la- 
bour and thought are not antagonists ; that indeed 
that is the happiest estate where they best harmon- 
ize together ; that every man of mechanical labour 
should love to think for the sake of his mind, and 
that he may be something more than the horse he 
drives or the tool he uses ; and that every student, 
for health's sake, and to give vigour to his thoughts, 
should take wholesome exercise of body. But every 
man who has an honourable and useful calling, and 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 139 

puts forth in it the energy of a healthful life, de- 
serves to be held in estimation. 

The true idea of human society is that of a ma- 
chine of many parts, a body of many members. 
All the parts of some complicated mechanism are 
not of equal importance ; yet the movements of a 
steam engine may be stopped by the breaking of a 
pin ; the safety of a vessel may be put in jeopardy 
by a flaw in a single nail or rope. In the body, all 
members have not the same office ; yet the suff*ering 
of one member is an injury to all ; and the pros- 
perity of one member is to the advantage of all. 
There are idlers among men ; there are those who 
accomplish less than we have reason to expect from 
them ; and there are those whose busy industry is 
exerted to injure rather than to benefit society. 
Let these all be judged as they deserve. But let 
us acknowledge that useful industry, wisely directed 
in any engagement of life, confers honour and hap- 
piness upon men. It would not be better for any 
man if he could live without labour. Something to 
do is every man's blessing ; and in the Divine mercy 
even this sentence upon man's sin, is not purely a 
curse. 



140 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

DEATH. 

We pursue further our thoughts upon the facts 
implied in the curse upon Adam. The sentence of 
Divine displeasure next speaks of that solemn hour 
when he should return to the dust from which he 
had been formed. The tempter's words are vain 
and false. Man must ''surely die.'* 

It is an important inquiry, What is included in 
that sentence which God now pronounced upon man, 
as a guilty, fallen creature ? That the term death 
includes the dissolution of the bond that unites the 
soul and the body, and the fall of the 'body to the 
earth, is plain from the very words here used. Is 
this all it means ? We may give our thoughts briefly 
to this matter. 

Some persons suppose that man is mortal by the 
very constitution of his being ; and that he would 
have met with temporal death, and his body would 
have fallen to the dust, if even he had never sinned. 
In proof of their view, they argue that the death 
of the irrational creatures is a necessary part of 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 141 

their conditions of life ; that death enters into the 
arrangements of providence as truly as life ; that 
their succession is apparently needful to the condi- 
tion of the world ; that we have abundant proof 
that whole races have filled the earth and perished 
long anterior to any evidence of man's existence 
upon the globe ; and that this body of man is of 
the dust and corruptible, and ever changing as it 
tends to the earth again. Yet there are many 
reasons which prevent us from receiving such views, 
more powerful than any arguments in their favour. 
We do not believe in the mortality of man in his 
first estate of innocence. It is not necessarily true 
that because death occurred to the irrational crea- 
tures, therefore intelligent and rational man was 
also subject to it : this fleshly body could have un- 
dergone the changes needful to fit it for a life in 
heaven without meeting death ; (see 1 Cor. xv. 51 ;) 
the actual transition of Enoch and Elijah, at a sub- 
sequent period of the history, points out to us an 
actual way in which all needful changes might occur to 
man's constitution ; and the constant teachings of 
the Scriptures that death entered by sin, and as the 
wages of sin, and passed upon all men by reason of 
sin, seem to forbid that we should entertain any 
other than the ordinary view. 

But while we believe that the race' of man would 
have known no such thing as the fall of the body 
to the dust, had we remained sinless, we can easily 
see that the chief element after all of such an event 



J42 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

lies in the cause of it. Death is serious, revolting, 
humiliating ; so much so as to form an argument to 
prove that no such grief would ever have been laid 
upon the sinless. To breathe out our life ; to lay 
this cherished body down to darkness and corrup- 
tion ; to part thus from those that have been near 
and dear to us, is no light sorrow, even when alle- 
viated by the hope or the knowledge that the sepa- 
ration is not jBnal. But when we magnify most all 
the grief of such an event, it must still be confessed 
that the cause of death is the circumstance of chief 
aggravation. " The sting of death is sin.'' Take 
away the sense of sin unpardoned, and man can 
look death in the face with composure ; or even with 
triumph conquer this stern foe. There is in human 
estimation the widest difference between the death 
of the craven and fiendish Kobespierre and that of 
the noble and patriotic Sir William Wallace, though 
they both died by the hand of the public execu- 
tioner. The world looks differently upon them, 
and these men themselves would feel that the mere 
publicity of an execution was not its chief shame. 
The severest pang of death belongs to its nature 
as a deserved sentence of law. This is the force 
of the Apostle's word ; " The sting of death is 
sin." 

But if the true pang of death lies in its puni- 
tive nature, we may justly include under it all the 
sufferings that have flowed from sin. The separa- 
tion between our first parents and God ; the loss of 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. l4S 

(Confidence ; the interruption of intercourse ; and all 
the results flowing from sin so long as the creature 
remains under the displeasure of his Creator, are to 
be reckoned under this single but comprehensive 
term, death. As the life promised to obedient 
Adam included spiritual and eternal well being ; 
so the death threatened was its reverse. Every 
blessing of God's favour upon man obedient would 
surely have been the reward of obedience; nor does, 
nor will man suffer aught in this life, or in that 
which is to come, in a judicial manner, but as the 
wages of sin. 

God pronounced upon Adam the sentence of 
which he had been forewarned. From that time, 
and even from the first moment of transgression, 
began the curse. The reign of temporal death 
was soon set up ; and how vain is it for us even to 
imagine the fearful forms in which it has ruled the 
earth ! When death comes in its mildest aspects, 
and alleviated by the kindest sympathies of human 
love, it is a sad and serious event. We cannot 
enter the chamber over which the dark shadow of 
his approach is already cast ; we cannot look upon 
the victim of death's triumph ; we cannot lay away 
the loved remains in their last resting place, without 
serious thoughts ; and we know that when the time 
comes for any of us to meet this foe, the conflict 
will seem as new and strange, as if no man else had 
ever struggled with this enemy. But in what va^ 
rious forms has death come to the family of man ! 



144 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

In how many sad scenes have we ourselves mingled, 
as we have entered the house of mourning ! We have 
seen the infant of days, the blooming youth, the vig- 
orous man, and the hoary head of age touched by the 
stern hand of this unsparing and indiscriminate curse. 
We have seen his slow approaches by lingering 
disease, and his rapid stroke by accident or crime. 
And with the well known population of the world 
before our eyes, how serious is the thought that 
with every minute of time death strikes down 
scores of victims ; and that with every hour spent 
in the sanctuary a larger number of souls than sit 
with us in the house of mercy have passed into 
eternity ! 

<* Ah little tbink the gay, licentious proud, 
Whom pleasure, pomp, and affluence surround ; 
They who their thoughtless hours in giddy mirth, 
And wanton, often cruel, riot waste ; 
Ah little think they while they dance along, 
How many feel, this very moment, death, 
And all the sad variety of pain ! 
How many sink in the devouring flood, 
Or more devouring flame !'* 

Who could bear to read the dark and blotted 
page that should record the scenes of suffering and 
death that occur all over the earth upon any single 
day of man's history ! And when we multiply 
these days by years, and these years by centuries, 
what an appalling aggregate do we bring before us ; 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 145 

and how large seems tlie fearful curse that was in- 
troduced into our world hj sin ! 

Nor should we reckon death only among the woes 
thus brought upon our earthly existence. We must 
add with the poet 

*' All the thousand nameless ills, 
That one incessant struggle renders life 
One scene of toil, of suffering." 

*' How many drink the cup 
Of baleful grief, or eat the bitter bread 
Of misery ! 

How many shake 
"With all the fiercer tortures of the mind, 
Unbounded passion, madness, guilt, remorse !'* 

For sin brings forth sin ; and grief and woe are its 
sad fruits everywhere. 

That is a most serious chapter in the history of 
man, that a most convincing proof that death and 
sin stand in close union, which would record the 
victories of death over man by the hand of his fel- 
low man. How early the reign of violence began ! 
The first born of Adam was the first murderer : 
and the very words by which human language 
has classified those deeds of blood — homicide, and 
regicide, and fratricide, and parricide, and matricide, 
and infanticide, and suicide — give proof that sin 
bears its deadly fruits through all the flowing veins 
of human society. And what can we say of the 
wars that have desolated the earth, and that with 
all their bad passions have deluged cities and lands 
13 



146 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

with blood, but that they are the legitimate offspring 
of the sin of man ? 

Sin, which has thus widely separated man 
from innocence and from God, throws its dark 
shadow forward beyond the life that now is. Surely 
if death is itself the fruit of sin, the fruit of death 
cannot be reconciliation to an oflFended God. If 
sinful man is still immortal, he is immortal as a sin- 
ner ; death itself, which is laid upon him as a curse, 
has no such purifying power as to restore him to his 
estate of innocence, and to prepare him for the 
holy and everlasting service of God. We may not 
only reason thus ; we may not only deny that any 
proof exists that the fall of the body to the earth 
exhausts the curse of God's broken law ; but we 
may appeal to the more explicit declarations of the 
subsequent Scriptures. These declare no new sen- 
tence of an offended God ; but simply interpret in 
plainer terms the judgments of God against sin. 
The sinner who bears the curse of death in all the 
dread meaning of the term, shall never see God's 
face in peace ; shall go away into everlasting pun- 
ishment; shall never have forgiveness either in this 
life or in the life to come; shall be punished with 
everlasting destruction from the presence of the 
Lord, and from the glory of his power. These are 
not man's thoughts, without reason, without right, 
without authority, and without importance. They 
are the serious declarations of God's inspired 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. IIT 

prophets ; they are spoken more plainly and repeat- 
edly by none than by the incarnate Son of God 
himself; and they fully justify the usual faith of the 
church of God, that death temporal, spiritual, and 
eternal is the wages of man's sin. 



143 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XVI I. 

THE CURSE UPON THE RACE. 

**0n all his sons 
Through every age the sad inheritance 
Of sin and death entailed.'* 

Hayes. 

It cannot be called in question that the evils in- 
cluded in the curse of Eden, as thus far considered, 
were designed to come not only upon our guilty 
first parents, but also upon all their posterity, " de- 
scending from them by ordinary generation.'' The 
sorrows and subjection of Eve belong to all her 
daughters ; the earth still brings forth thorns and 
briers for each new generation ; the toil and anxiety 
of labour yet rests on every man ; and death reigns 
in all the abodes of Adam's children. These things 
may be justly reckoned among the facts of human 
history. 

And there are other facts which ought to be re- 
cognized as such by every candid and observant 
man. First among them we may reckon the uni- 
versal sinfulness of the race. This fact has two 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 149 

important aspects which we may distinctly notice. 
First, it is a truth that men are universally sinners ; 
and second, this sinfulness of the race stands con- 
nected with the sin of Adam. So the Scriptures 
expressly say, ''By one man sin entered into the 
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon 
all men for that all sinned." The nature of the 
connection between the first man and his race shall 
be the subject of our subsequent investigations. 
Now we speak simply of the facts in the case ; 
leaving the principles involved in them to those 
later thoughts. 

It seems scarcely necessary to prove that where- 
ever man is, sin is, because no candid and intelli- 
gent mind will be disposed to deny the sad fact. 
Not only are the declarations of the sacred writers ex- 
plicit upon this point, when they affirm that all flesh 
is corrupt, that there is none righteous, no, not one, 
and that there is not a just man upon the earth 
that doeth good and sinneth not; but there are 
manifold arguments which may be drawn from our 
own observation to prove the universality of man's 
sin. 

Dr. Dwight in his System of Theology has a dis- 
course upon this subject in which, after speaking of 
the testimony of the Scriptures, he adduces these 
further proofs. 

1. The laws of all nations prove the sinful cha- 
racter of man. Laws are chiefly to restrain and 

punish sin. Necessity forces every nation to adopt 
13 ^ 



150 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

them ; to invent severe penalties for crimes ; to use 
all watchfulness against them. Man needs laws, 
courts, judges, bonds, locks, jails, gibbets, because 
sin everywhere abounds ; and yet in no single na- 
tion on the face of the earth have these things ever 
proved effectual to stop men from sinning. The 
sinfulness of man is cunning enough to escape the 
most watchful police ; bold enough to dare the se- 
verest punishments ; deep enough to outlast the 
longest efforts of reform. All these things have 
failed to exterminate a single sin. In a virtuous 
world none of these things would be needed ; and 
their universal existence proves man's universal sin. 

2. The religions of all nations prove the same 
thing. Every system of religion has its ideas of 
expiation. Whether sacrifices, offerings, pilgrim- 
ages, ablutions, or penances, the conscience of man 
was ever burdened and guilt was ever confessed, 
where these were found. 

3. The w^ritings of all nations, Avho have had any 
writings, prove man's universal sin. History, 
though often partial, has always described man as 
evil towards God and as unjust and cruel towards 
man. Moral and philosophical writings, even those 
that oppose this very doctrine, not to speak of other 
writings, have yet borne strong testimony to its 
truth by the very efforts made to disprove it ; while 
all other writings, as poems, and works of fiction, 
owe all their interest to the just recognition of 
man's universal vrickedness. Men do not care to 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 151 

read any poem or novel which introduces a perfect 
character ; for such a character is seen at once to 
be unnatural. 

4. The conversation of all men is proof of man's 
sin. All men charge others with sin, and very few 
profess themselves sinless. Those who do this gain 
little credit for their intelligence or sincerity ; and 
the best of men are usually the most humble in ac- 
knowledging their shortcomings. 

5. The history of the race has failed to record a 
single instance of a pure and spotless man, with the 
sole exception of Jesus of Nazareth, the promised 
Seed of the woman. 

6. The doctrine of man's universal sinfulness is 
proved to every man who examines truly his own 
character. 

Every man has his serious apprehensions concern- 
ing his future state ; every man knows that he does 
not perform his whole duty ; every man is conscious 
that he has committed many sins ; every man finds 
many difficulties in refraining from sin and in doing 
right. Every man would be ashamed to tell his 
secret thoughts to his nearest friend, and every man 
knows that he is a sinner before the searching eye 
of God. 

The more fully such arguments are expanded and 
considered, the more convincing is the dreadful 
proof that man everywhere is vile. We are a sin- 
ful race — sin and misery have always and every- 
where abounded upon the earth. The sinfulness of 



152 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

man pertains not alone to one age, but to every age; 
to one nation, but to every nation ; to a few persons 
in each community, but to every man and through 
all his life. 

This sinfulness of man forms a part of man's 
very nature. We speak of this as a fact to be re- 
cognized, just as we recognize the rational and 
moral nature of man. No one questions that an 
infant child is a being of a reasonable nature ; and 
this certainly not because of any exercise of reason 
on the part of the child. We reckon the child a 
rational being, because it belongs to a race of ra- 
tional beings ; and because of almost universal ex- 
perience that in the growth and development of 
the child, he will prove himself possessed of under- 
standing and will, of affections and conscience. 
The rare instances of idiotic children have no effect 
to weaken our conviction that the nature of man is 
rational. But it is no more true that with the 
growth of every child we shall find evidence of a 
rational nature, than that we shall find evidence of a 
depraved nature. Facts prove that the nature of 
man is corrupt, as plainly as they prove that man 
is a moral and reasonable being. 

Facts prove that the nature of man is en- 
tirely depraved. Many, indeed, object to the doc- 
trine of total depravity, just as they do to all the 
doctrines pertaining to our union with Adam, 
through a perversion of the terms used to express 
them. We do not mean by total depravity that 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 153 

every man is as wicked as he can be. In this sense, 
even Satan is not totally depraved, since his is an 
existence of increasing sinfulness. We say a man 
is a total bankrupt when he is unable to pay his 
debts ; but we can recognize that some bankrupts 
are far more deeply involved than others. By total 
depravity we mean the depravity of the entire man 
— of the soul in all its powers. It is not the de- 
pravity of the will, while the conscience is fully 
faithful to its duty ; not the corruption of the affec- 
tions, while the understanding clearly discerns the 
truth and the memory is faithful to retain it. But 
all the powers of the mind are affected by the sin- 
fulness of man. His understanding is darkened ; 
his affections are called forth easily towards evil 
things ; he easily treasures up in his memory cor- 
rupt and delusive things ; his imagination is easily 
inflamed by corrupting ideas ; his will is prone to 
every evil. There is no natural disposition on the 
part of man to love God, or to render righteous 
obedience to his law. God made him upright. 
Then his delight was in God ; he held communion 
with him ; he knew no bias to evil. When we 
speak then of total depravity, we mean the entire 
absence of that righteousness which originally be- 
longed to man, and the corruption of the entire na- 
ture, without including the actual transgressions 
which indeed proceed from this depravity, but which 
are clearly to be distinguished from it. 

It is amor.g the facts of which we now speak, that 



154 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

the whole nature of man not only falls short of 
that uprightness in which Adam was created ; not 
only is indisposed to spiritual good, but is made 
opposite to it; is wholly inclined to all evil; "is 
very far gone from original righteousness, and is of 
his own nature inclined to evil." Of this speaks 
David when he says, Behold, I was shapen in in- 
iquity; and our Lord Jesus when he affirms, That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh ; and Paul, when 
he declares that the carnal mind is enmity against 
God. And the solemn and repeated declarations 
of the Scriptures are confirmed, as we see how averse 
men are to the spiritual doctrines of the gospel ; 
how many constant restraints are needful to keep 
even children from forming the most corrupt habits ; 
how easy, we may expressively say, how natural 
is every evil thing among the children of men ! 
We acknow^ledge that there is great diversity in 
human wickedness. The length of life and the 
number of their transgressions may be greater in 
some men than in others. All men are alike in 
this, that all are averse from God and prone to 
evil ; but the progress made in evil is quite a dif- 
ferent matter. 

We speak of these things as facts in the history 
of man, and we do not now attempt to give any ex- 
planation of them ; to enter, as men would say, upon 
the philosophy of these matters. This indeed it is 
our privilege to do; this w^e design to do. We be- 
lieve that the facts are furnished us in order to the 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 155 

just understanding of the truth upon the principles 
of sound philosophy. Let us now simply endeavour 
to notice a few things which enter into the process 
of such a philosophy. 

1. It is acknowledged by the wisest men that all 
sound philosophy consists in observing and classify- 
ing all the facts of any subject; and from these 
facts to learn the principles from which the facts 
arise. It is not for us to invent, but to discover 
laws. Nor is it always an easy thing to reduce all 
the observed facts into entire consistency with each 
other. Yet the facts are right; and the apparent 
inconsistency between them must be attributed to 
ignorance, or inexperience and want of wisdom on 
the part of the philosopher. 

2. The facts of which we now speak are plainly 
true in the history of man, and lie open to the 
notice of every one. It is injustice to this subject 
to allege that only those who receive the Scriptures 
as the word of God are bound to believe these 
things. The Scriptures do speak explicitly on these 
topics ; and their utterances should indeed be satis- 
factory to every Christian. Yet it is just for us to 
say that all these facts of man's condition depend 
upon no line of historical proof, even as handed 
down in the church of God; but every man may 
see them before his own eyes. They rest not upon 
the truth of the Bible or of the Christian religion ; 
but they force themselves upon the notice of those 
who profess any religion or none. That the Bible 



156 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

declares any truth, does not prevent us from no- 
ticing the independent proofs of it from other 
sources. These facts connected with the sinfulness 
and misery of man's estate must be noticed by 
every observant mind ; and let a man's religious 
opinions be what they may, his philosophy should 
embrace these facts, and give some explanation of 
them. 

3. We are not to expect that any explanation of 
these difficulties will be perfectly satisfactory. In- 
deed, philosophers, who are wise in the affairs of this 
world, assure us that a full explanation of any thing 
is an impossibility. A professedly scientific journal, 
havino- the laro-est circulation and influence, and 
perhaps the highest practical ability of any in this 
country, in a recent editorial holds this language : 
" Nothing can be fully explained. In every depart- 
ment of knowledge, if we go a few steps from that 
which is visible upon the surface, we come to abso- 
lute mystery, which no man can explain. Ask the 
most learned surgeon to explain the motion of the 
hand. He tells you,'' .... of the muscles, and 
nerves, and brain ; but " if you ask him how the 
brain acts upon the nerve, and the nerve upon the 
muscle, he can tell you no more than can the 
smallest child or the most ignorant savage. What 
the nervous influence is .... is known to God, 
but it is not known by any of the children of men." 
And after illustrative expressions, the conclusion of 
the writer is : " If we attempt to understand tho- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 157 

roughly any fact whatever which comes under our 
observation, we shall find that a few steps will bring 
us to the dark gulf of profound and unfathomed 
mystery."* 

If these are unquestioned truths of human phi- 
losophy in regard to natural sciences, much less 
may we expect fully to understand those far more 
diflBcult matters which link the mind and soul of 
man to the spiritual and eternal world. It is pre- 
sumption for any man to suppose that he can clear a 
topic like this of all its difficulties. When we learn 
all we can of these deep things of man's sinfulness, 
we will still be unable to explain what we may much 
desire to know. 

4. What then we judge is this : That the ex- 
planation which we receive from the sacred Scrip- 
tures respecting the sin of man, in its origin, and 
in all its aspects and bearings, is the very simplest, 
clearest, and most satisfactory that has ever been 
proposed; at the same time that it stands con- 
nected with other teachings the most excellent that 
man has ever received. The lessons we receive 
from the word of God do not solve all the diffi- 
culties which occur to our mind ; but there are less 
difficulties attending the true solution than any 
other. And especially we may say that the signal 
clearness with which the Apostle Paul illustrates 
the great subject of man's salvation, not only sets 

^ Scientific American, Nov. 5, 1859. 
14 



158 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

clearly before our minds the true Scriptural doc- 
trine concerning the sinfulness of man, but may 
lead us to rejoice in the infinite wisdom of Divine 
providence and grace, which we may trace both in 
man's ruin and his recovery. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 159 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

PRELIMINARY STATEMENTS. 

We have before this had occasion to draw the line 
of distinction between the true teachings of these 
earlier records, and the knowledge drawn from them 
bv those who at first received them. We do not 
profess to know how much Adam, or Moses, or 
David, or any Old Testament believer understood 
of the truths revealed to them ; but we judge of 
these things much as we do of the knowledge of 
man in other than religious things. It is one thing 
to trace the progress of human opinions in any sci- 
ence ; and, however interesting this may be, it is 
another, and a far better thing, to comprehend that 
science, as we enjoy better opportunities for learn- 
ing what it really teaches. In regard to the science 
of Astronomy, we cannot doubt that the laws and 
phenomena of the heavenly bodies were the same 
before the eyes of Adam as before our eyes ; and thus 
all the true teachings of the starry heavens were 
entirely consistent as he saw them with what we 
learn in later times. The earth revolved around 
the sun ; eclipses occurred as regularly ; the laws 



160 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of gravitation, of electricity, of light, were the 
same ; the forces that exist now existed then ; and 
God wrought before and around men just as he does 
now. If we had the account of an eclipse clearly 
and plainly recorded as occurring five thousand 
years ago, our astronomers would receive the facts 
as true. But the ancient astronomer who could be 
trusted for what he saw, did not understand the true 
principles of the science as they are understood 
now ; and therefore our astronomers from the same 
sight would gain far more true knowledge. If even 
we say that the invention of the telescope has been 
like a new revelation of the starry worlds, enabling 
the earthly observers to discern more clearly what 
the skies reveal ; yet even the telescope has not 
contradicted any of the teachings which the heavens 
had before given. We see new stars ; we see the 
same stars, that men formerly saw, with greater 
clearness ; we have many misapprehensions cor- 
rected ; but we can justly say that the telescope has 
revealed no inconsistencies between the earlier and 
the later teachings of the starry heavens. 

What the telescope is to astronomy the New Testa- 
ment is to religion ; in part a revelation of new 
things ; in part a clearer exposition of facts and 
principles as old as the knowledge of man. 

Now, while it is a great thing for men to under- 
stand the profound principles of the works and 
ways of God, it is interesting to reflect that the 
ordinary benefits derived by man from his works 



ADAM AND HIS TIMllS. 161 

and providence depend less than we often think 
upon the depths of man's philosophy. The know- 
ledge of man now is greater than in former ages. 
Man has investigated the phenomena of light ; un- 
derstands many of its laws, its beautiful refractions, 
and its importance to growth and life ; yet doubt- 
less the light was as pleasant to Adam, the rainbow 
as beautiful to Noah, and the scenery as delightful 
in Canaan to Abraham and David as to any of their 
wiser children since. Modern chemistry has ana- 
lyzed our food, investigated the elementary princi- 
ples of the various kinds, and told us the nutritive 
properties they severally possess ; and yet we can- 
not doubt that food tasted as sweet and proved just 
as nourishing to men who never heard of chem- 
istry; as now indeed the child or the fool can 
enjoy life along side of the wisest man. The ig- 
norant, who know nothing of philosophy, can 
use the laws of philosophy to much the same prac- 
tical advantage as those who give their careful study 
to these things ; indeed the wisest men are con- 
stantly using principles they do not comprehend ; 
and it is through the use of them we learn to know 
them. 

Men use abundantly the laws they do not under- 
stand. We do not undervalue knowledge ; but the 
sun shines as clearly upon those who do and those 
who do not understand astronomy ; the air breathes 
as healthfully to those who can and those who can- 
not analyze it ; and human governments are valu- 



162 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

able alike to the statesman who can argue learnedly 
upon their great principles, and to the humblest citi- 
zen who cannot argue about them. The blood 
coursed as freely through every man's veins for 
thousands of years before its circulation was dis- 
covered ; the law of gravitation has been the same 
since God made the worlds, but the solution of a 
thing so simple and so often seen as the fall of an 
acorn to the earth, is but very recent in the world's 
history. But there is no need to multiply illustra- 
tions. 

Knowledge is excellent. But men have always 
known facts better than they have known princi- 
ples ; they learn principles from facts ; they have 
always used principles they did not comprehend ; 
and they may enjoy privileges they have never 
thought about. 

When we affirm that the earliest teachings of any 
science are the same as the later teachings, it is no 
objection that men have only understood these 
things lately. Nor is it any objection, to the true 
teachings of religion in any age that we comprehend 
them only by the aid of the later portions of God's 
word. The true question in regard to biblical in- 
struction is not. How far does this man or that, hoAV 
far has this ao;e or that, understood these teachino-s ? 
But the true inquiry is. What does the word of God 
teach us ? And the meaning of any one passage is 
consistent with the meaning of every other. Genesis 
and Revelation are alike inspired. Moses may not 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 163 

be as clear as Paul, but he is as truthful. The 
morning star may not be as bright to the naked eye ; 
we may not see its phases ; but the telescope gives 
only a clearer vision of the same things. 

The plain facts in the history of Adam and in 
regard to our connection with him, have passed in 
brief review before us ; and these same facts have 
been before the eyes of men in all ages since our 
first father's apostasy. Cod pronounced a solemn 
sentence upon Adam for his sin; the curse has been 
upon his natural posterity from that day to this ; 
the facts are apparent before the eyes of all men ; 
the philosophy of the case may have been under- 
stood more or less distinctly by different men. It 
is our place to use all the light we can secure from 
every quarter, to understand the connection between 
Adam and his children, which demands or justifies 
that these evils should rest on more than himself. 

The simple solution of the matter is here. Adam 
stood in Paradise, not in his personal but in a 
public and representative character. Bearing to- 
wards his natural posterity the relation of a repre- 
sentative, his act was legally their act ; they are 
held liable for what he did; and judgment has 
passed upon them to condemn them. In the lan- 
guage of theology his sin is imputed to them — laid 
to their account. 

This is a subject where many objections arise 
from mere misapprehension. It may, therefore, be 
wise to delay the exposition and proof of the true 



164 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

doctrine, that we may spend a little time in giving 
definitions of several things. Thus we may correct 
in advance various errors into which men are prone 
to fall ; and may greatly simplify our subsequent 
thoughts. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 165 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DEFINITION OF TERMS. 

The covenant of works is the name given to 
that arrangement made by God with Adam in Para- 
dise, when he forbade him to eat of the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil ; and promised life as 
the reward of his obedience. The form of covenant 
differs from the form of law ; not in its obligations, 
for Adam was as truly bound to obedience to God 
before the covenant was made and after it was 
broken, as he was during its continuance. The 
covenant was a privilege. Though Adam was bound 
to obedience in everything and perpetually ; and 
though his perfect obedience under law could not 
have merited the high rewards of heaven, by this 
covenant God promised that upon his obedience in 
one very plain and very easy thing, and, perhaps, 
for a very limited space of time, we should secure 
the blessings of life eternal. We call this a cove- 
nant because it differs from a law ; because it has 
all the characteristics of a covenant in contracting 
parties, terms, privileges, and penalties ; because 
we understand the prophet Hosea especially to say 



166 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

that Adam transgressed the covenant, Hos. vi. 7 ; 
and because we shall see that nothing else than this 
can satisfy the representations of the Scriptures 
concerning it. It is called the covenant of works, 
because obedience was demanded by its terms, arid 
had Adam remained obedient he would have fulfilled 
its requirements. So it is long afterwards inter- 
preted : " The man that doeth these things shall 
live by them." 

We say Adam was our federal head. The 
word "federal" is derived from the Latin fcedus^ a 
covenant, and means the same as covenant. Adam 
was the representative of his children in this cove- 
nant. The United States government is called the 
federal government, and its courts are called federal 
courts, because the general government of this 
country exists by a compact or covenant between 
the states united in its support. Hence the motto, 
E plurihuB Unum ; i. ^., from many one. Many 
independent governments unite to form one. 

Adam was the federal head of his children for 
the purposes designed under the covenant of works, 
in precisely the same sense that an officer of the 
federal government, acting in his public capacity 
for the ends entrusted to him, represents the people 
of the United States. The laws of Congress, made 
in accordance with the Constitution of the United 
States, which is the rule of our national covenant, 
bind the citizens of this entire land, because made 
by our representatives. And it is even true that 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 167 

the acts of private citizens against foreign govern- 
ments without any authority are attributed to this 
government, and we are held responsible until we 
expressly disavow their acts. Any man intelligent 
in political history can easily remember facts which 
illustrate this matter. 

The results of Adam's sin come upon us, we are 
accustomed to say, by the imputation of his guilt. 
Two words in this expression need to be explained, 
for they are frequently misunderstood and are sub- 
ject to frequent misrepresentations. 

When we say that we partake of the guilt of 
Adam's first sin, we do not mean the absurd things, 
that this sin was committed by us in our own per- 
sons ; that we are personally blameworthy for an 
act of whose commission we had no possible con- 
sciousness ; or that we ought to feel for his sin the 
same remorse and self-reproach we should feel for 
our own. Much less could it be true that the trans- 
fer of his guilt to us leaves him holy.* We simply 
mean that we are held responsible for his sin, in 
precisely the same sense that a constituent is held 
responsible for the acts of his representative ; a 
principal, for the acts of his agent or attorney. We 
may often feel humiliation and grief ; we may often 
suffer for acts we did not do, and for which we can- 
not feel remorse. If a man possesses property in a 
distant city, his agent may neglect it, make foolish 
contracts respecting it, or act in a dishonest manner 
respecting its income ; to the great grief, displea- 



168 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

sure, and injury of the owner. The owner cannot 
reflect upon himself for these acts, as if he%imself 
had done them ; but if this man was truly his agent, 
and how he became so is not the present subject of 
discussion, he is liable to suffer for all he has done. 
All the old theologians use the word reatus, g^ilfcj 
in this simple sense of liability to suffer punishment. 

Allied to this is the sense in which we use the 
word imputation. We mean that the penalty of the 
first sin of Adam is laid to our account. It is par- 
ticularly to be noticed, that the transference of 
Adam's personal character, so far from meaning the 
same thing as imputation, is widely different and, 
indeed, contradictory. If by the imputation of 
Adam's sin is meant the transfer of his sinfulness, 
then of course his sinfulness being taken away, he 
is innocent and we blameworthy. Nobody ever 
held such a doctrine as this ! 

We shall have further occasion to illustrate the true 
meaning by referring to Christ and his sufferings 
for our sins upon the cross. Suffice it now to say 
that when we affirm that Christ bore our sins in his 
own body, we do not mean that their blameworthi- 
ness came upon him, and that the spotless Son of 
God was a sinner. This is abhorrent to all our 
thoughts. But we do mean that the punishment of 
our sins was upon Christ ; that they were reckoned, 
to his account, and that our representative was a 
sufferer. Imputation refers, not to qualities and 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 169 

acts, but to legal responsibility.* The personal act 
of any man is his own ; the blame must belong to 
himself; but the consequences of his acts, whether 
for suffering or privilege, may come upon others 
through him. " To impute sin," says an old writer, f 
*4s to charge it upon us, so as legally to inflict de- 
served punishment. We do not mean that the sin 
is reckoned to be committed by us ; for we did not 
commit it, but Adam ; but it is so reckoned ours 
upon our being included in him as our covenant 
head, that we are punished for it according to the 
demerit of the sin/' 

* J. M. Mason, iii. 170. 
f Hayward's Sermons (1758), p. 15. 
15 



170 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XX. 

WHENCE THE AUTHORITY OF A REPRESENTATIVE? 

When we speak of Adam as our representative, 
we are not using strange language invented by 
metaphysical theologians, and applicable only to 
the mysteries of religion. The principles involved 
in this relation are as old as the history of man, 
are of vital importance as the foundation of all 
human government, and are essential to all social 
organization. No family, tribe, or government can 
exist without involving the principles of covenants, 
of representation, and of imputation, at least in 
their chief elements. 

We do not understand that Adam was the repre- 
sentative of his race in the same sense in which a 
father represents his children. Adam was our 
natural father; but in a special sense, as we shall 
duly notice, he was our federal head in the covenant 
of works. Yet from the fact that every father does 
represent his children, and they derive injuries and 
advantages from his conduct, we may, from the pa- 
ternal relation, derive an illustration of the place 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 171 

held by Adam. Every representative^ possesses 
powers to bind his constituents ; these powers are 
to be interpreted according to the place he holds 
and the duties assigned him. A child may repre- 
sent the family for certain things entrusted to him; 
the father of a family, in his proper sphere as a pa- 
rent, legitimately acts for all the rest. The extent 
of a representative's powers is one thing ; the prin- 
ciple of representation is distinct from the question 
of powers. 

The principle of representation is just, wise, 
useful, and necessary in human affairs. Every civil 
government is and must be representative in its 
nature. Certain persons act for the nation ; by their 
acts of wisdom the people are benefitted ; for their 
acts of folly a nation is held responsible. And, 
although in the wickedness of man, gross abuses of 
this principle of representation abound, and enor- 
mous evils have come from it, it is neither safe nor 
possible to repudiate or reject the principle itself. 
Human affairs could not move on; nor could society 
exist without it. Founded in man's nature by 
God's wisdom, we are obliged to recognize it. 

But when we admit the truth that representation 
is essential to human affairs, it still remains proper 
for us to inquire, By what authority does any per- 
son act in that capacity ? If we admit Adam's au- 
thority as a parent, how are we to ascertain his 
authority to act in a capacity which surpasses that 
of our natural head ? 



172 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

Perhaps the chief objection made to the doctrine 
that Adam, under the covenant of works, was the 
representative of his posterity arises from the fact 
that he was not the chosen representative of his 
constituents. The basis of the objection is the 
claim that a just representation implies that the 
constituents should have a voice in selecting their 
representative. Of course this was impossible in 
the case of Adam. It is important to examine this 
matter, and to inquire if indeed representatives can- 
not otherwise have just authority. 

There is scarcely any more difficult question per- 
taining to man's social estate and the science of hu- 
man government, than that which determines upon 
what foundation rests the just authority which al- 
lows one man to act as the representative of others. 
It is acknowledged upon all hands, that the true basis 
of all true government is Divine authority. When 
the infinitely wise and just Creator speaks, it can- 
not be possible that injury or injustice should result 
to the rights of man. But the administration of 
human governments is committed to man ; and 
while men should ever obey the Divine laws and 
regard justice and truth, constitutions may justly 
be formed and rulers and representatives may be 
chosen by men, to carry out the Divine ordinance 
of government. These things are entirely con- 
sistent. God ordains government ; but surely that 
is a clear right in any ruler, and that a valid au- 
thority in any constitution, that they exist by tb@ 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 173 

free choice of the people they govern. And liberty 
will exist among a people in proportion as they 
guard carefully and jealously against the encroach- 
ments which men in the exercise of power have ever 
been prone to make against the rights of the com- 
monwealth and for their own aggrandizement. 

We have nothing to say against the doctrine, 
considered with its just limitations, that the just 
authority of human governments and human rulers 
and representatives arises from the consent of the 
governed. Yet many serious and difficult questions 
arise from the fact that the consent of the governed 
is a thing so partial in its very best estate. 

Nobody contends, for example, that the unanimous 
voice of the people of any state is necessary for the 
election of a governor ; yet is he the lawful ruler, 
even of those who voted against him. Still less 
will any one affirm that the voices of the women 
and children and resident aliens of the land, are 
necessary parts of a popular election ; and yet their 
rights, and duties, and interests are as truly af- 
fected by every election as are those of any voters. 
Still less again will any one claim that the genera- 
tions to come must be consulted in the choice of our 
rulers now ; and yet the generations to come may 
feel, more than we do, the influence of the things 
done in our time. 

Look then at the state of the case as it appears 
from one simple illustration. In electing the Presi- 
dent of the United States, a very small proportion 
15^ ' 



174 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of those whom his acts may bind, can justly be 
said to give their consent to his election. If the 
population is thirty millions, three millions may 
actually cast their votes. If he has a popular 
majority of two hundred thousand the case would 
stand thus : His acts bind legally and righteouslythe 
rights, duties, and interests of one million six hun- 
dred thousand who voted for him ; of one million 
four hundred thousand who voted against him ; of 
twenty-seven millions living in the land who were 
not consulted at all ; and the influence of his igno- 
rance or wisdom, his neglect or activity, may pass 
down to the untold millions who arc yet to dwell in 
this land, and who, of course, could have no voice 
in constituting him their legal representative. 

Thus it may be seen that, when the popular choice 
is exercised in the best possible manner towards our 
representatives, it is but very partially true that 
the choice of those w^hose interests are affected is 
necessary to their just authority. In the family 
relation this choice is never exercised at all ; the 
father is the head of the family by the appointment 
of Divine providence ; and yet, in his proper 
sphere, he represents his children as truly, and he 
exercises authority as legitimately, as any ruler on 
earth. 

In large societies, the choice of a governor never 
means the unanimous consent of all the governed ; but 
always the vote of a majority. It never includes 
the votes of females and minors, who do not con- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 175 

i§ent at all, or do so by tacit acquiescence or through 
the votes of others. It never means the consent 
of posterity ; although their dearest rights and in- 
terests may be affected by the things done before 
they were born. And the persons affected by 
the acts of a representative may be innumerably 
greater than those who had any voice in selecting 
him. 

Thus we may gather from the arrangements of 
society and our common ideas of justice, that the 
exercise of choice in an interested constituency 
does not enter so essentially as has often been 
thought, into the elements of just representation. 
The righteous relation of constituent and repre- 
sentative often exists where consent is impossible ; 
often where consent is not unanimous ; often where 
dissent is plainly expressed. There may be other 
things demanded ; and their presence may more 
than compensate for the absence of that general 
consent which is forbidden by the circumstances of 
the case. If it must be admitted that succeeding 
generations maybe held responsible for the promises, 
and engagements, and acts of those now living, then 
the most important difficulty of the case is really 
disposed of. Adam might as rightfully act for his 
successors as we for ours, so far as pertains to this 
particular matter, the consent of the parties inter- 
ested. 

Nor is it possible for us to imagine a better 
right to act in this capacity than that which flows 



176 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

from the Divine appointment. As tlie authority of 
a parent flows from Divine Providence ; as this ap- 
pointment is easily ascertained ; and as no authority 
is more legitimate in its proper sphere ; so any au- 
thority granted from the Divine government should 
he unquestioned for its legitimacy, its justice, and 
its excellence. In ordinary representation in hu- 
man governments, the difficulty lies in deciding what 
constitutes the proof of Divine approval, Grovern- 
ment is of Grod is a great truth. Is this ruler le- 
gitimate? is quite another question. But certainly 
if it can be made to appear that Adam acted, not 
as a private person, but as the head of the human 
race ; the very fact itself is a sufficient proof that 
his just authority so to do, proceeded from the only 
source then possible. God either gave him this au- 
thority, or recognized his right to exercise it. Un- 
less, then, we are ready to charge evil upon the God 
of unchangeable wisdom, holiness, and goodness, we 
must not only lay aside our untenable and incon- 
sistent objections ; w^e must not only be content to 
believe where we do not clearly see ; but we must 
recognize the proof of the fact in such a case as 
ih-Q proof of right; and say if Adam was regarded 
as a covenant head in the eye of God, he w^as not 
wrongfully so. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 177 



CHAPTER XXI. 

THE COVENANT MADE WITH ADAM REASONABLE — 
ARGUMENTS. 

A REPLY to the inquiry, Did God indeed form a 
covenant with Adam as the root and representative 
of the human race ? may now form the subject of 
several chapters. 

Affirming the existence of such a covenant, the 
following are some of the reasons we would assign 
for our faith. 

The first reason is this : Such an arrangement, 
in itself considered, is worthy of the wisdom of 
God and of his goodness towards man ; and it was 
made on terms highly advantageous to the human 
family. 

The constitution of the human race, as descend- 
ing from one pair and as moral and reasonable 
beings, was devised in God's infinite wisdom. All 
our first reasonings, therefore, upon this entire 
topic, must be based upon man, not as we think he 
should have been, but as God made him. Surely 
we have not knowledge or wisdom enough to say, 
that any other constitution for the race was prefer- 



178 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

able. God pronounced Adam very good ; and thiJ? 
approval would have extended to all the race so 
long as it remained sinless. He must be presump- 
tuous indeed, who goes so far back as to find fault 
with the very nature given by God to the human 
family. 

As God made Adam he was a moral and rational 
being ; and his children were all to partake of the 
same nature with their first father. By the neces- 
sity of such a nature, each individual is under obli- 
gations of personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience 
to the entire law of God. We cannot conceive that 
a moral being could ever rightfully disobey the will 
of the wise and holy God, his Creator. But the 
utmost perfection of obedience could not bring the 
Divine Ruler under any obligations to bestow special 
rewards upon the creature. Law never rewards obe- 
dience, in the strict sense of reward. A just God 
could not punish an innocent being ; he would be- 
stow his favour upon an obedient creature as he did 
to Adam during his entire estate of innocence. 
But by obedience to the law of God no creature 
could merit that exceeding weight of glory which 
we are taught to call by the name of heaven. If 
Adam and his race had inherited the original con- 
ditions of their being, they would have been under 
law alone and for ever. Perhajys they would have 
been for ever liable to fall. Certainly their con- 
tinued obedience would have secured for them but 
the favour of God, without any legal claims upon 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 179 

higher rewards which no services of the creature 
can merit. 

Now a covenant wonderfully changes this estate 
of man. Instead of making his obedience have re- 
gard to the entire law, it confines the trial of his 
faithfulness to one single self-denial ; and this the 
very simplest and easiest of performance that Di- 
vine benevolence could require of him. Instead of 
making his obedience perpetual for himself and for 
his race, with, perhaps, the constant liability to fall 
through all their lives, we have every reason to 
judge that he and all his race, after a short period 
of trial, would have been confirmed in holiness and 
happiness for ever. Every free creature is, perhaps, 
liable to fall, considered simply as to his natural 
powers ; but the grace of God can confirm holy be- 
ings in holiness beyond the possibility of fall ; 
which case now belongs to the saints and angels in 
glory. Instead of making his obedience depend on 
law without special promises, the great promises of 
everlasting life were set before him. And these 
preferable things offered by Divine goodness to 
Adam, in exchange for his natural condition under 
law, were hampered by no such disadvantages as to 
make the covenant injurious or burdensome. The 
penalty was no more severe for breaking the cove- 
nant than the natural exposedness of the creature 
under the law ; for the disobedience of a creature, 
in any particular and at any time, would have met 
the same displeasure of God. Nor have we any 



180 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

just reason to say that without such a covenant 
each individual of the race would have been sub- 
jected to a temporary probation. If God had left 
us under mere law, our service must have been for 
all our duties, of perpetual requirement and with 
no special promises for obedience. Or if he had 
formed a covenant for each, the likelihood of obe- 
dience could never be stronger than in the garden. 
The truth is, the covenant of works made by God 
with Adam was an exceedingly great and valuable 
privilege bestowed by the just and benevolent 
Creator upon the newly formed race. Unless we 
question the whole foundation of man's natural and 
moral estate — though the product of infinite wisdom 
— we cannot gainsay the truth of this. It was in- 
comparably better that man should be under a 
temporary covenant than that he should remain in 
his natural estate under a perpetual law ; that he 
should have the early hope of confirmation in holi- 
ness rather than the constant liability to fall; that 
one simple and easy requirement should take the 
place of the numerous and perplexing claims of 
duty under the whole law ; that while the penalty 
was not increased, the rewards of obedience should 
be so large in exchange for the natural advantages 
flowing from God's justice under the law towards 
obedient persons. To exchange the natural estate 
of man for this brief covenant, to make Adam re- 
sponsible in the full maturity of his powers, with 
the consciousness of his trust, and with so great 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 181 

easiness of obedience, is not a transaction charge- 
able with folly and injustice. If Adam had but 
stood the trial, the gratitude of the race would have 
been unbounded ; both to our first father for his 
success, and to the blessed God for the goodness 
that gave man the opportunity of securing ever- 
lasting life by means so simple and easy. Unless, 
then, we are guilty of the wickedness of charging 
the fault of the failure upon God, which is entirely 
untrue ; we ought to recognize, not only that he did 
thus enter into covenant with Adam, but that infi- 
nite wisdom and goodness prompted the arrange- 
ment. The covenant would have succeeded but for 
man's sin ; its success would have been glorious ; 
and the mere fact of failure, however disastrous, 
does not invalidate its excellent principles ; and 
should bring no reproach upon its holy and benevo- 
lent Author. 

A second reason for our faith may be drawn from 
its reasonableness ; not only in itself, but as com- 
pared with other attempts to explain the whole sub- 
ject. 

The most serious difficulties upon this entire 
matter confessedly attend any view whatever that 
will include the well known facts ; and every im- 
portant objection is quite as hard to meet in any 
view we may take. But it is a settled principle of 
sound philosophy that objections to well established 
facts are of no weight. Facts give knowledge, ob- 
jections arise out of our ignorance. Their true cure 
16 



182 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

is, not the denial of what we already know, but to 
learn more. And we must expect to find in the 
teachings of the Scriptures the same difficulties we 
find in the world about us ; since they have the same 
Author.* As already said, we cannot fully explain 
anything even in natural science. Perhaps in reli- 
gious teachings there is this additional reason for 
obscurity ; that God especially demands humility 
and faith in every worshipper ; and the clouds and 
darkness around some interesting subjects of thought 
may the better secure his purpose. 

Men are greatly tempted to charge God with in- 
justice to the race in this matter. The Almighty 
vindicates himself from this charge most ex- 
plicitly ; but not by clearing up the difficulties 
which men cannot solve. He declares the infinite 
and unchangeable holiness of his own character ; 
explicitly avows that he tempts no man to evil, that 
he judges righteous judgment of every man ; and 
that the blame of man's sin and ruin in no sense 
attaches to Him ; and calls upon man, in view of 
plain truth and in spite of ignorance in some things, 
to believe that the Divine throne is spotless. What- 
ever seeming contradictions there may be, let faith 
acknowledge that there is no real inconsistency. 
Because a feeble worm cannot explain the mysteri- 
ous dealings of God, it does not follow that they are 
inexplicable. For he may make the darkest bright 
in the day of his revelation. For the present he 
^ Origen quoted by Bishop Butler. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 183 

often says, " What I do thou knowest not now, but 
thou shalt know hereafter/' 

Bearing in mind that the chief difficulties of this 
case are common to every view man can get of it, 
we may proceed to speak of some theories which 
seem to us less satisfactory than the sentiments we 
have expressed. 

Some have supposed that the facts of man's uni- 
versal sinfulness can be accounted for, by acknow- 
ledging that every man is possessed of a voluntary 
nature, and that by the exercise of his own free 
will every man chooses the ways and thoughts of 
evil. Others have thought that the evil examples 
everywhere existing in the world are a sufficient ex- 
planation of universal sinfulness. But it is utterly 
incredible that, in the exercise of free will in moral 
beings entirely unbiassed by evil, among so many 
millions of individuals through the ages of time, 
there never should occur one single instance of the 
choice of good. Surely if the will of man was 
perverted and prone to wrong, the fatal tendency 
could not be worse than well known results really 
are. And it is just as inexplicable, that bad exam- 
ples should be invariably copied by beings, who, 
but for these, would be holy. For there are many 
good examples set l^efore the children of our race ; 
and bad examples ought, at least in some cases, to 
serve as warnings and to deter, rather than win, a 
mind that has no bias to evil. And the mystery in 
the providence of God is not at all relieved if we 



184 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

deny that man is corrupt by nature, and yet affirm 
that he is placed in circumstances where every in- 
dividual is sure to become corrupt. 

Others have recognized all the evils of a corrupt 
nature as flowing from the sin of the first man ; but 
they refuse to recognize the existence of the cove- 
nant of works, and declare that men inherit the 
curse upon Adam by reason of a Divine constitution 
to that effect. Whatever in such a theory is diifer- 
ent from the doctrine of Adam's federal headship, 
relieves us of no difficulty ; while serious disadvan- 
tages are involved to which just objection may be 
made. By this arbitrary Divine constitution to 
which even Adam is not supposed to give consent, 
the human race never had any trial, nor any fa- 
vourable opportunity of securing everlasting life ; 
we are not otherwise connected with Adam than as 
our first father, nor was he divinely appointed to 
act for us ; yet, by virtue of this Divine constitu- 
tion, all these evils come upon us for the sin of one, 
with whom, upon this theory, we had no special 
connection. While this view relieves no difficulty, 
it involves more serious ones. It bids us believe 
that without any union with Adam we suffer just 
the same as if we had been united to him ; and, 
moreover, it seems necessarily to forbid that the 
obedience of Adam would have been of any special 
service to his posterity. Had the first man obeyed 
the special command of God, his children would not 
have suffered these evils ; but neither would they 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 185 

have "reigned with him in life." They would still 
have been under law, and perhaps each one in a 
state of trial for himself, and for aught we know, 
with the perpetual liability to fall. 

But if we believe there was a covenant, then 
good on the one hand and evil on the other, de- 
pended upon the obedience of our representative, 
until the time had expired and the terms of the 
covenant were fulfilled. If we believe that Adam 
was only under law, and this not in a covenant 
form ; if his obedience was merely personal ; if it 
must be perpetual ; if no time was promised of con- 
firmation in holiness, such as now belongs to the 
angels and saints in heaven ; and if every one of 
his children must stand precisely in this position, 
then this supposed Divine constitution puts the en- 
tire human family under the most serious disadvan- 
tages, without any attempt to explain the Divine 
rectitude and without a redeeming promise of good, 
such as vindicates the Divine benevolence in the 
covenant of works. 

Believe in a covenant, and Adam's position is 
not personal but public ; the largest blessings are 
promised to his seed upon easy terms ; a person em- 
inently fit stands for them ; and the evils of his 
unhappy failure come upon more than himself be- 
cause of a legal connection. 

Here then is a brief summary of these thoughts. 
The facts already considered compel us to believe 
that the race of man is corrupt ; the universality 
16^ 



J86 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of this corruption forbids us to decide that it can 
be accounted for by anything short of a depraved 
nature in the entire race. And if we must choose 
between an arbitrary Divine constitution, based 
upon no well known principles, promising no advan- 
tages, and bringing innumerable evils through Adam 
upon those who stood towards him in no special 
connection ; and a covenant which places for our 
representative, a man of all others the most suitable 
for place and capacity ; which promises extraordi- 
nary advantages upon his obedience ; and which 
upon principles that radically belong to our social 
nature, makes us liable to the results of his disobe- 
dience, through our legal union and connection with 
him, the choice between those two explanations 
seems easily made. The covenant made with Adam 
seems every way the simplest solution of the matter. 
There are some difficulties that are not removed by 
this view ; but not one existing difficulty is magni- 
fied ; no new, especially no superior, difficulties are 
created ; this harmonizes with other things in hu- 
man experience, in the dealings of God's providence 
and in the teachings of the Scriptures ; and not 
least of all, as we shall see, this explanation finds 
its glorious counterpart in that greater covenant by 
which the grace of God repairs the ruins of the fall. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 187 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE COVENANT MADE WITH ADAM — FURTHER PROOF 
FROM SCRIPTURE. 

The narrative in Genesis, scarcely capable of 
any other solution, forms a third reason for affirming 
the existence of the covenant of works. 

Here God and Adam stand towards each other 
in relations diflFerent from that of the mere creature 
before his Creator. As in a covenant, we have two 
parties before us ; on the one hand, God ; on the 
other, mankind, in the person of the only living 
member of the race then in existence. Here are 
terms. The natural and inalienable due of every 
creature is perpetual and entire obedience. But 
here, evidently for some special purpose, God sub- 
stitutes a requirement incomparably less difficult. 
How small a thing was it to require that a holy 
being should refrain from the fruit of a single tree, 
when he was so fully supplied with the necessaries 
and even the luxuries of life ! How impossible it 
is to understand why such evident importance 
should be attached to this command, if no special 
privilege was included under it! Any duty of 



188 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

Adam's life was a test of personal obedience ; this 
must be a special test for special purposes and with 
special privileges. Here are sanctions. The penalty 
of man's disobedience was natural and necessary ; 
no creature could with impunity sin against God. 
But here the penalty is specially extended to an 
act that in itself was harmless ; and which became 
exceedingly sinful just because of the especial place 
which that forbidden tree held in a dispensation 
that differed from the moral law. And more than 
the mere approbation of God upon innocence is 
plainly implied in the blessings which were thus 
promised to obedient men. Here also we have the 
consent of the man fairly implied ; given in the 
words of Eve to the serpent ; included in the utter 
absence of complaint on the part of Adam, as to 
this point, after he had fallen and the sentence was 
pronounced upon his disobedience. Our first pa- 
rents in the first discovery of their sin did murmur 
against God ; but they have, even in their sin, not 
a word to say against a sentence that can only be 
explained, in its far reaching influence, by the ex- 
istence of a covenant. 

We regard it as a fourth argument that the form- 
ation of such a covenant with Adam corresponds 
not only with the nature of man, but with the 
usual methods of God's dealings with the sons of 
men. 

From the beginning of the Bible, through all its 
pages, we have frequent mention made of an ever- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 189 

lasting covenant, made with God's people and with 
their seed. We have no direct account of the 
formation of this covenant or of its first proclama- 
tion as a covenant to man. When first spoken of 
in the Scriptures, it is introduced as a privilege 
whose nature and terms were already well under- 
stood. From the time that he said to Noah, '' Be- 
hold, I establish my covenant with you and with 
your seed after you," Gen. ix. 9; we find mention 
made of this covenant, and of its extension to fu- 
ture generations, in all the Scriptures. It is not 
only with Abraham and Jacob, and with Israel at 
Sinai that God made this covenant; but God's cove- 
nant, the everlasting covenant, is mentioned in the 
histories, in the psalms, and in the prophecies of 
the Old Testament ; and in the New Testament, 
Zacharias prophesied of it at the birth of John the 
Baptist, Luke i. 72; Peter preached of it at Pente- 
cost ; and Paul argued upon it against the errors 
of the early Church, Gal. iii. 

It makes no difference to our present argument, 
whether we regard these expressions as denoting 
the same covenant, proclaimed even in the family 
of Adam after the fall with the solemn rite of sacri- 
fice for its seal, having no early records of its ex- 
press terms, but explained in all the subsequent 
Scriptures ; or whether we suppose that these fre- 
quent terms denote different covenants, made with 
Noah, Abraham, Israel, and David. Nor need we, 
at present, distinguish between the spiritual benefits 



190 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of the covenant kept, and the judgments of God 
for the covenant broken. The simple points of 
present remark are, that God has repeatedly cove- 
nanted with man ; and that he ever includes in the 
covenant the children of those with whom the cove- 
nant was made. He included Noah and his seed ; 
Abraham and his seed ; David and his seed ; and 
at Sinai it was said to the people, " Neither with 
you only do I make this covenant, but with him 
that is not here with us this day." And if we fol- 
low the history of the people of Israel through all 
the Bible, we will find them furnished by the judg- 
ments of God for the breach of the covenant made 
with their fathers so long before. Not only so, we 
may lift up our eyes now and see the Jews a scat- 
tered and a suffering people in all the earth, because 
of the sins of their fathers eighteen centuries ago, 
against a covenant that is at least three thousand 
years old. We have ample proof then that the 
covenant made with Adam binding his posterity to 
the latest generation is entirely according to God's 
usual dealings with the sons of men. 

We may derive a fifth reason and the strongest, 
and most explicit of all, from the direct teachings 
of the Scriptures. 

We are expressly informed that the evils of sin 
and death come upon us through Adam. We need 
to examine but a few of the more direct passages. 

In Hosea vi. 7 we read, ''But they like men have 
transgressed the covenant. '* The original Hebrew 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 191 

is, " They like Adam have transgressed the cove- 
nant ;" and the same phrase is so rendered in Job 
xxxi. 33. This is a direct affirmation of the cove- 
nant made with Adam. 

In 1 Cor. XV. 22 the apostle says expressly, ''In 
Adam all die." This cannot mean less than that 
we die by reason of Adam's sin. But what he says 
in Rom. v. 12 — 21 is still more explicit. As we 
have other things to say of this passage, we may 
now simply appeal to these repeated statements : 
— By one man sin entered into the world and 
death by sin ; through the offence of one many be 
dead ; by one man's offence death reigned by one ; 
by the offence of one judgment came upon all men 
to condemnation ; by one man's disobedience many 
were made sinners. 

Now from the teachings of the fifth chapter of 
Romans we may draw two further arguments to 
prove that Adam stood as our representative in the 
covenant of works. 

The first is from the force of the apostle's argument 
from the death of infants. We have no reason to 
think that death comes upon one portion of the hu- 
man family for one reason, and that it comes upon 
other portions for other and different reasons. If 
any portion of the race dies because Adam sinned, 
then it is equally righteous that others should die 
for the same reason. It is disputed whether the 
apostle does or does not refer to infants when he 
speaks of them that '' had not sinned after the 



192 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

similitude of Adam's transgression." It is of no 
importance to the force of our present argument, 
whether he refers to them or not. For since infants 
*'who have neither done good nor evil/' Rom. ix. 
11, do die and have died since the world began, an 
argument framed exactly in the words of Paul is 
applicable to them ; and is unanswerable to prove 
that their death proves their condemnation under 
the law. Study the death of an infant child ; ac- 
knowledge that it has not personally sinned ; believe 
according to the teachings of the Bible that suifer- 
ing and death are the proofs of a broken law and 
the wages of sin ; but while you see that here are 
pain, and suffering, and death, and the return of 
the body to the dust, you multiply the mysteries 
that becloud all reasonings upon such a subject, un- 
less you receive this solution, that death comes upon 
them, and if upon them as well upon all men, 
through the sin of a broken covenant. The well 
known epitaph expresses the whole matter. 

"Bold infidelity, turn pale and die! 
Beneath this stone two infants' ashes lie; 

Say — are they lost or saved ? 
If death's by sin, they sinned because they're here; 
If heaven's by works, in heaven they can't appear ; 

Ah, reason, how depraved ! 
Bevere the sacred page, the knot's untied ; 
They died, for Adam sinned ; they live, for Jesus died." 

The second argument from Paul's language arises 
from the fact that he attributes the condemnation- 



ADAM ANB HIS TIMES. 193 

of the human race to the one offence of Adam. It 
is perfectly clear from his statements that we are 
not held liable for any of the sins of Adam, except 
the eating of the forbidden fruit ; and for that one 
offence death has passed upon the race. It is just 
as plain, if this is so, that we are not connected 
with Adam simply as children are connected with a 
parent. A father may commit many errors and his 
children may suffer repeatedly through him. He 
may commit errors in his business, and his heirs 
may suffer for every loss he meets. He may be- 
lieve mischievous doctrines, and every one may be 
transmitted for evil to his posterity. He may con- 
tract diseases, and these may become hereditary. 
The merely natural connection between a parent 
and a child, gives the parent power analogous to 
that of a representative, but it is not limited to one 
offence. But in the case of Adam our whole re- 
sponsibility does turn upon one offence ; and that 
is just such a one as might be committed by a pa- 
rent without bringing special mischief on his pos- 
terity. This limitation to one offence, and these 
great effects flowing from one, can be explained 
only by believing that we stood in Adam — that w^e 
fell in Adam, when he partook of the forbidden 
tree, in a sense that is not true of any of Adam's 
personal obligations or personal transgressions. 

When God called, "Adam, where art thou?" and 
the reply was a falsehood, nothing is said of laying 
that offence upon us. Adam, doubtless, committed 
17 



194 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

Other sins in nine hundred years ; but by his one 
offence death reigns. He was our natural head 
through all his life ; he was our federal head in re- 
gard to that one thing ; for the covenant demanded 
obedience respecting the fruit of the tree. 

Without attempting to express any further rea- 
sons to prove the fact that a covenant was made 
with Adam, except the clear proof which arises 
from Paul's parallel between Adam and Christ, 
which we reserve for other chapters, it may be pro- 
per to advert to the practical influence of the doc- 
trine thus advocated as corroborative of its truth. 
No intelligent man can question the intellectual 
vigour and the warm-hearted piety of the men who 
have held these views ; no one can doubt that they 
can use in expressing their views the impressive 
language of the Bible upon the subject of man's 
sin ; and it is equally beyond question that these 
teachings are most decidedly rejected by ungodly 
and wicked men, who have no serious thoughts con- 
cerning any of their sins, and no true reverence 
for God at all. No doubt many a Christian can re- 
member when he quarrelled with the doctrine of 
man's native depravity, or perhaps found in it ex- 
cuses for carelessness. But let a man lay aside his 
pride ; let him look at the well known facts of his 
sins and of God's justice ; let him justify God's 
holy law and holy character, even in things he does 
not understand ; and he will find these teachings, 
never pleasant, but deeply humbling and profitable, 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 195 

When a man justifies God in all his doings as David 
did, and yet confesses with David that he was ''con- 
ceived and born in sin ;" when he recognizes that 
he has been a sinner from the very beginning of his 
life, he may well abhor himself for his vileness and 
pray fervently, " Create in me a clean heart, 
God." I may not find fault with the Lord; nor 
say to my Maker, Why hast thou made me thus ? 
But with a sinful nature, I ought to be humble; 
with such depraved tendencies, I need to watch 
against temptation and sin ; and the more I know 
of my sinful, and wretched, and lost estate, the 
more thankful I ought to be that God has not left 
our race to perish in guilt; that he has provided 
a mighty Redeemer, and that he calls me to wash 
away the stain of numerous ofi'ences in the fountain 
of atoning blood. 



195 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

ADAM — THE FIRST AND THE SECOND. 

** The Second Adam from the dust 
Kaises the ruins of the First." 

Watts. 

There is no historical question of surpassing in- 
terest to a serious Christian, beyond that which 
would inquire into the early knowledge of the hu- 
man family concerning redemption. It is not only 
true that the sacred Scriptures place the sin of man 
and the mercy of God in constant contiguity; urging 
man's utter ruin as the great reason why he should 
seek the Divine method of recovery ; but God's 
mercy was taught to the first sinners even before 
they gave any tokens of ingenuous sorrow. How 
much was known of the gospel in the first days of 
its proclamation ? When we read that our first pa- 
rents were clothed in skins of God's providing, in- 
stead of the scanty fig-leaf aprons they had them- 
selves prepared, are we to understand that these 
were the skins of beasts slain in the Paradise they 
had just defiled — slain as sacrificial ofFeriiigs to 
atone for the guilt they had just contracted — slain 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 197 

as prophetic and sacramental symbols of that coming 
Redeemer, whose conflict with Satan, whose bruis- 
ing and whose triumph had just been foretold? 
When we read of Abel's bleeding sacrifice as a cus- 
tom already established and sufficiently under- 
stood; when his faith and Cain's unbelief clearly 
imply Divine teachings to which both should have 
conformed ; and when man's need of the gospel 
and God's grace in the gospel seem in the Scrip- 
tures to belong to every age of human history ; are 
we from all these things to conclude that Adam 
knew Christ and the way of salvation through the 
blood of atonement ? There can be little doubt 
about the most important matters involved in such 
an investigation. Adam knew the way of salvation 
as truly as any of his children since. He knew he 
was a sinner beyond a doubt ; and he knew that 
God proclaimed mercy to the repenting sinner. 

Mark ! We say he knew as truly ; we do not say 
he knew as dearly and plainly. The facts before 
his mind were less numerous ; the teachings less ex- 
plicit; and it is difficult to decide how well he knew 
the great principles of the Divine procedure. But 
the gospel was then the same that it is now ; God 
has ever saved guilty men through the death of his 
Son ; the sacrifices instituted in the days of Adam, 
were designed to prefigure the sufi*erings of Christ ; 
and the Apostle Paul teaches us that Adam himself 
stood in a remarkable relation to Christ ; that he 
17^ 



198- ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

was himself a figure^ or, to use the original word, 
a type of him that was to come. 

Adam is expressly called a type of Christ. 
Surely the language contains important and profit- 
able teaching. And this teaching should possess 
double interest, because we learn from it both the 
relation sustained to his children by Adam, and the 
relation sustained to his people by Christ. The 
covenant made with Christ as the Mediator between 
God and man is clearly revealed in the sacred 
writings ; but, from the evident meaning of Paul, 
Adam sustained a like relation, and was alike bound 
by a covenant. So that we establish the fact that 
a covenant was made with Adam for his race, while 
we learn of the covenant made of God in Christ. 

We should not desire to separate these teachings. 
Distinct as the topics are ; much as the angels in 
heaven know of sin, though they have never tasted 
sin ; much as the devils in hell know of salvation, 
though they shall never be saved ; let sinful man — 
a prisoner of hope — learn the two lessons together. 
While he knows of his nature fallen through the first 
Adam, let him know that the Redeemer of the fallen 
bears the name of the Second Adam ; and let him 
understand that the largest acquaintance with our 
ruined condition through the type in Paradise, 
should produce, not rebellion and despair, but re- 
pentance and love through the Antitype of Calvary. 

It is well worthy of our notice that Paul's entire 
description of Adam and of the relation borne by 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 199 

him to the race in the covenant of works, is inci- 
dental. He speaks with the air of a man giving 
instructions with which his hearers are already fa- 
miliar. We have no such explanations as usually 
accompany new lessons ; he takes it for granted 
that the readers of the epistle to the Romans are 
already well acquainted with the facts and princi- 
ples here mentioned ; and the very use he makes 
of them is proof that he did not consider his words 
as conveying doctrines either new or strange. His 
introduction of Adam is solely to illustrate a differ- 
ent matter. This is apparent. As this, so that, 
are terms used by those who would illustrate. But 
in the very nature of human language, and in the 
necessities of rhetoric, illustrations can properly be 
drawn only from things already understood. Illus- 
trations to a discourse are like windows to a house. 
They are designed to let in the light ; and they 
serve this purpose best, when they are themselves 
transparent. Paul takes it for granted that his 
views concerning Adam were already well understood 
in the Church of God ; and though he may not be 
able to tell when they were first so clearly known, 
yet his sentiments seem only the more forcible from 
this manner of uttering them. They are too plain 
and too well known to need any argument; too 
easily understood to need explanation. 

The apostle expressly tells us that Adam was a 
figure or type of Him that was to come. In an- 
other epistle he again compares them ; declares that 



200 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

as death came by Adam, so life comes by Christ ; 
and calls the one the first and the other the last 
Adam. Even the name of Adam is thus applied to 
Christ ; there must be then a remarkable likeness 
between them. They are not in all points alike. 
The one is earthly, the other heavenly; the second 
is every way superior to the first ; yet ought we 
carefully to consider both the points of analogy and 
the points of difierence. 

Adam was a type of Christ, 

First, because he stood as a public person and in 
a representative capacity, when he ate the fruit of 
the forbidden tree. 

Our reasoning may be the reverse of Paul's, for 
our object is opposite. His design is to illustrate 
salvation and the means by which it becomes ours, 
by the fall and the means by which we are involved 
in it. He explains Christ by Adam. We design 
rather to explain Adam by Christ; the covenant 
of works by the covenant of grace; the fall and 
the things implied in it, by the gospel and its meth- 
ods. Paul's facts and principles exactly suit our 
purpose ; and we hope to reach the same end w^ith 
Paul, reasoning from his conclusions to his pre- 
mises. 

That Christ was our representative and sufi'ered 
not in a private but a public capacity, no Christian 
man can doubt. No private reasons urged the Son 
of the Eternal to become incarnate ; no personal 
sinfulness brought upon him the sufferings he bore; 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 201 

and the blessings secured by him were for his free 
bestowal upon others. He is the Surety of a cove- 
nant ; he laid down his life for others, and great as 
are the mysteries of Christ's redeeming love, the 
mystery of his character and object, of his griefs and 
his success, is incomparably greater ; indeed is en- 
tirely inexplicable, unless we receive this simplest 
of all truths — that Christ Jesus was a public person 
in all his earthly work. 

But if we cannot otherwise understand the posi- 
tion and influence of Christ than as he was a public 
person, neither can we understand the influence of 
Adam or the comparison made between the two, ex- 
cept by believing the same thing. The language 
of Paul is easily understood, if we acknowledge the 
public and representative capacity of Adam ; it is 
impossible to see why he speaks of him at all, and 
how we can explain the facts he states, except as we 
do receive this. He declares that sin entered by 
one man's one ofi*ence ; and death comes by sin. 
He anticipates the objection that a large number 
of our race die who have never sinned, by teaching 
that this death can only be accounted for by this 
very truth, that Adam was a type of Christ in this, 
that he was a public person. His concise argument 
is, " Wherever there is death there is sin ; w^herever 
there is sin there is law ; wherever death comes, it 
comes as the penalty of law, and is, therefore, the 
proof of a law violated ; wherever such a penalty 
comes upon those who have not personally violated 



202 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

the law, they must have broken it by the act of an- 
other : and this necessarily implies the doctrine of 
representation.'* If death passed upon all men for 
that all sinned ; if yet this sentence of condemna- 
tion is for the offence of one ; if the disobedience 
of a single one makes many sinners ; if death reigns 
universally, not because of universal sinfulness, but 
because of that one original offence, — these all are 
terms utterly void of meaning, unless Adam was 
under a covenant, a public and representative person. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 203 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE AFFILIATED DOCTRINES. 

Adam was a type of Christ, 

Secondly, Because the principles that are involved 
in the gospel of Christ are implied in man's fall in 
Adam, and the reception of salvation by Christ re- 
quires that in consistency we should acknowledge 
our union in Adam. 

We say the principles are the same ; but the ap- 
plication, we shall see, is for opposite purposes. 
"As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made 
alive." 

1. We need but mention, without further repeti- 
tion, that the doctrine of Representation belongs 
both to Christ and to Adam ; both were public per- 
sons ; and if we can see that one could stand in 
this relation, no righteous principle forbids that the 
other should. The entire doctrine of atonement by 
Christ rests upon his public and representative cha- 
racter. 

2. The doctrine of Imputation as clearly belongs 
to the true teachings concerning both Adam and 
Christ. 



204 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

Nothing can be more explicit than the negative 
and the positive teachings of the Bible concerning 
the sufferings of Christ. On the one hand, it is 
denied that he suffered for his own sins ; for he 
knew no sin, was holy, harmless, undefiled, and 
separate from sinners ; and on the other hand, it is 
affirmed that he did suffer for the sins of others, for 
he bore our sins in his own body on the tree, he 
was bruised for our iniquities, he was a ransom for 
us. We say then in view of these statements that 
our sins were imputed to Christ ; by which we do 
not mean that Christ became a sinner, for we ex- 
pressly affirm that he was spotless ; nor that our 
characteristics were transferred to him; nor that he 
must feel, or could feel, the remorse which our sins 
may awaken in us ; but simply that he became le- 
gally liable to suffer the penalty of the broken law 
for us. Liability to suffer for us is the true meaning 
of the term when we affirm that our sins were im- 
puted to Christ ; and this is the only consistent 
meaning of many passages of sacred teaching: 
" Christ also hath suffered for us, the Just for the 
unjust;" ''He hath made him to be sin for us;" 
" He hath borne our iniquity." 

But the doctrine of imputation belongs, in another 
most important sense, to the Scriptural teachings 
concerning Christ. It is by the imputation of the 
righteousness of Christ that believers are justified 
before God. In vain would he bear our sins if we 
were not justified by his righteousness. These things 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 205 

belong necessarily together. If, as the Surety of 
his people, Christ is held liable for the judgment 
against them, his satisfaction of the judgment is 
their release. If God has made him, who knew no 
sin, to be sin for us, it is that we, who knew no 
righteousness, should be made the righteousness of 
God in him. Very plainly do the Scriptures deny 
that any sinner can be justified before God by his 
own works ; and as plainly do they teach that the 
righteousness of Christ received by faith is the sole 
ground of a sinner's acceptance. 

But the doctrine of imputation, thus taught re- 
specting Christ, is taught also respecting Adam. 
True of Christ in two respects, it is true of Adam 
in one respect. As our covenant head, Christ suf- 
fers for us, and we receive the benefit of his public 
acts. As our covenant head, we fell in Adam. 
Look at Paul's contrasted words through all this 
passage. Rom. v. 12 — 21. Law is by Adam, grace 
is by Christ ; death is by Adam, life is by Christ ; 
condemnation by Adam, justification by Christ ; 
disobedience by Adam, obedience by Christ ; sin is 
by Adam, righteousness is by Christ ; the only ex- 
ception, as we shall hereafter see, arises from the su- 
periority of the second Adam in all he is and was. 

Nor should we omit to say that while the doctrine 
of imputation is thus essentially involved in both 
the covenants, of which Christ and Adam are the 
Federal Heads respectively, the usual cavillings of 
men against the doctrine as urged in regard to 
18 



206 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

Adam may be answered most clearly by just 
thoughts of imputation in regard to Christ. And 
every ingenuous mind may find a reply to its own 
chief difficulties by carefully noticing these analogies. 
Is it objected that Adam's sin must be his own 
and cannot be ours ; and that every man must suf- 
fer for his own sins ? Make the objection true and 
consistent ; and salvation is impossible to man. 
Unless Christ suffered for sins that were not per- 
sonally his own, we never can be saved. Is it ob- 
jected that character cannot be transferred ? We 
reply that, as before declared, this is not the proper 
meaning of imputation. It refers to legal responsi- 
bility ; and in this sense the analogy holds between 
Christ and Adam. Paul's words are of equal force 
in the two directions : " As by one man's disobe- 
dience many were made sinners, so by the obedience 
of one shall many be made righteous." Is it ob- 
jected that we cannot feel remorse for the sin of 
Adam in which we are condemned ? It is an exact 
reply to say, neither can we feel any self compla- 
cency for the righteousness of Christ by which we 
are justified. Yet we may feel humbled that we are 
fallen in Adam ; and we may feel grateful that we 
rise in Christ. 

3. To affirm the existence of the covenant 
of works with Adam as our head in it, and the 
covenant of grace with Christ as our head in it, 
alone can explain these preceding doctrines, and 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 207 

the facts as we are taught them by the word and 
providence of God. 

All that we are able to learn of Christ may be 
made to illustrate what we would know of Adam ; 
and all we know of Adam may illustrate the truth 
respecting Christ. For, in Paul's teachings, the 
correspondence between them is almost entirely 
exact. There are differences as we shall see. But 
in the chief principle of their respective positions, 
that a covenant was made with both, they are as 
alike as possible. The method of man's ruin cor- 
responds to the method of his recovery. In both 
cases it is through another. In Adam, our natural 
father, his children stood in Eden. Adam sinned. 
We thus became sinners, are under condemnation, 
and suffer death. In Christ, our spiritual Head, 
his people stood. He satisfied the broken law. 
We are made righteous by one man's obedience; 
his righteousness is the ground of our justification ; 
we partake of eternal life through him. All is 
clear if we believe the doctrines of the two cove- 
nants, of vicarious substitution, of representation, 
and imputation ; but we have no key to unlock these 
intricate mysteries, if these things are not true both 
of the first and the second Adam. 



208 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE SECOND ADAM GREATER. 

** Where sin did reign and death abound, 
There have the sons of Adam found 
Abounding life ; there glorious grace 
Keigns through the Lord our righteousness." 

Watts. 

But, thirdly, the parallel between Adam and 
Christ is not complete. We ought to bring clearly 
into view the great and precious truth that Christ 
is greater than Adam. The apostle gives us occa- 
sion for devout thanksgiving when he declares, that 
the sin and the gift are not alike; for ''where sin 
abounded, grace did much more abound." 
The points of superiority are such as these : 
1. Condemnation is by law and justice; salvation 
is by gift and grace. We have no just ideas upon 
these topics, unless we acknowledge the entire right- 
eousness of God in man's condemnation, and recog- 
nize his sovereignty and grace in our recovery. 
But how glorious is the conception of grace to those 
who are condemned by a law so holy ! So excellent 
is this, that the Scriptures speak of God himself 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 209 

glorying in it ; and commending his love for sinners, 
as he commends no other of the Divine acts. There 
was nothing to excite the wonder of adoring angels 
when God executed his wrath upon Satan and his 
hosts ; but to see the exercise of love and grace, 
and especially by methods so wonderful as the death 
of his own Son, towards rebellious men, might well 
aifect them with the greatest surprise and admira- 
tion. Nor do we have just views of Christ's com- 
ing to save, except when we refer it to the sovereign, 
unmerited grace of God, wonderful alike as shown 
in his Son and to the rebellious. 

2. Recovery is always more difficult than ruin ; 
to destroy is always more easy than to repair. One 
fatal sin brought wretchedness upon our race, as a 
spark may kindle a conflagration in whose fiery 
path innumerable palaces and countless stores of 
wealth may be reduced to ashes. But not so 
easy was the task of the Redeemer ; and it is to 
the glory of Christ, that he shrank not back from 
the work of man's salvation, although even by him 
it was not easily accomplished. 

3. The apostle makes a distinct point of contrast 
in the facts that by one sin of Adam the race is 
ruined; but that by Christ's work his people are re- 
deemed, not only from that one offence, but also 
from their own numerous and aggravated offences. 
If it is amazing grace that forgives a single sin, 
how may we magnify the mercy of God in Christ 
by which the manifold iniquities of a man, the mul- 

18* 



210 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

tiplied transgressions of so many men, the aggra- 
vated guilt of the chief of sinners, are so freely 
forgiven ! 

4. Christ is superior to Adam, for the effect of 
His grace upon every believer does much more than 
restore him to the estate from which Adam fell. 

What man has lost in the fall of Adam is much 
less than what is gained by the redemption of Christ. 
Not only is the enmity of sinful minds taken away 
in Christ ; not only the image of God restored to 
the soul ; not only the darkened mind enlightened ; 
the perverted will renewed ; the defiled conscience 
purified ; and the grovelling affections elevated. 
We are not placed by Christ in a new state of pro- 
bation, in which our righteousness is to secure for 
us the favour of our God. Salvation by Christ is 
not only by grace, upon terms wholly different from 
man's original standing under the covenant of works, 
but it places us in a more glorious estate. Adam 
was liable to fall ; Christ's people can never perish. 
Though Adam and his race had the prospect of 
eternal life, they never secured it ; but the people 
of Christ shall surely enter upon the possession of 
everlasting peace. 

5. Christ Jesus, as the Second Adam, is superior 
to Adam the first, because of his unquestionable 
and infallible accomplishment of the great work he 
has undertaken for the salvation of his people. 

How excellent was the object of the first cove- 
nant, had our first father stood in Paradise ! how 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 211 

disastrous was his fall ! Can we entertain the fear 
that like disaster, or even failure, at any point, or 
for any child of the covenant, is possible to Him 
whom now we are called to trust ? Here is a most 
important point of Christ's superiority, that his 
work cannot possibly fail. Well may our Mediator 
be called the Surety of a better covenant ; for his 
redeemed people none can pluck out of his hand. 

We might argue this conclusion from the infinite 
perfections of the Divine character ; from the excel- 
lency of our glorious Redeemer ; from the very na- 
ture of the covenant made of God in Christ ; from 
the express teachings of the Sci'iptures ; and from 
the superior security thus afforded to the people of 
Christ. 

The great work of God for his own glory is not 
one of doubtful accomplishment. The All-knowing, 
the Almighty has not undertaken what he cannot 
do ; nor promised to the Son what he cannot fulfil. 
That must be a false view of the scheme of redemp- 
tion which represents God as defeated, or the Son 
of God as disappointed in the results. It is strange, 
indeed, if Christ sufi'ers in a public capacity, fulfils 
all the terms demanded of him as a Surety, and 
yet receives not in full the promised reward. The 
Father doeth his pleasure ; the promises of God are 
sure ; the Son shall see of the travail of his soul 
and shall be satisfied. Christ's words are explicit. 
"All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. 



212 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast 
out.'' 

We understand that the covenant of grace was 
made with Christ for his chosen people, for his 
spiritual seed, and that every soul interested in it 
shall receive the reward of His work. As the former 
covenant was for Adam's natural seed, so the second 
covenant is for Christ's spiritual seed. So Christ 
lays down his life for his sheep ; so he laid hold, 
not on the seed of Adam, but on the seed of Abra- 
ham ; so he made w^ith David " an everlasting cove- 
nant ordered in all things and sure," 2 Sam. xxiii. 
5 ; so he promises to every repenting soul to make 
with him " an everlasting covenant, even the sure 
mercies of David," Isa. Iv. 3. We do not under- 
stand that the covenant made with Christ includes 
the entire race of man, in the same sense that this' 
is true of the covenant made wdth Adam. This 
cannot be true, unless we receive the doctrine of 
universal salvation ; and even this upon grounds 
entirely different from the usual advocacy of its 
modern defenders. A dogma contradicted so ex- 
pressly by the Bible, and by the entire scope of its 
teachings, cannot form part of our faith. We can- 
not believe that Christ died for the men who per- 
ished in the flood, just as for Noah who was saved 
in the ark ; for the Sodomites, as for Abraham who 
vainly prayed that God would spare them ; for the 
presumptuous king who perished in the Red Sea, 
and for the believing prophet who led Israel through 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 213 

dry-shod. All these had already passed from earth 
before Christ died ; and we cannot believe that he 
had any design to save those who had already 
perished. In reference to all the past and all the 
future of the human family, the designs of the Re- 
demeer for salvation are entirely like the accom- 
plishment of them ; and he cannot fail to complete 
the entire work he has undertaken. 

We do not pretend to explain why God has not 
made salvation universal for the human family. 
We must content ourselves with believing what he 
has revealed in his word and providence ; and it is 
ours to believe that reasons of infinite wisdom and 
rectitude govern all he does. We are well aware 
that many perplexities attend a careful investiga- 
tion of topics like these. Yet we believe that fewer 
difficulties gather around the truth as thus held^ 
than around any other explanation of the covenant 
of grace ; while there are special advantages be- 
longing to these views. If there is a covenant, 
that covenant ought to be carried out. Did Christ 
undertake what he could not perform ? or the Fa- 
ther promise what he will not fulfil ? May one 
man be truly bought by the precious blood of Christ, 
and yet perish for ever ? What then is the assur- 
ance to any other man, that he may not also perish? 
The chief encouragement that ought to lead any 
man to trust Christ is this great fact, that no 
soul interested in this everlasting covenant can 
perish. We may well trust the salvation of our 



214 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

souls to such a Redeemer. Well might Paul say, 
'' I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded 
that he is able to keep that which I have committed 
unto him against that day." 2 Tim. i. 12. 

Many persons are perplexed with some aspects 
of this matter. Especially they say, How can God 
offer salvation to every creature that hears the gos- 
pel ? or how can I trust to Christ unless I know 
that he has died for me ? But the same diflSculty 
in regard to the Divine sincerity must arise from 
God's foreknowledge upon any view of the atone- 
ment ; and it is never true that our duties depend 
upon a previous acquaintance with the purposes of 
God. The chief difficulty upon the entire subject 
of salvation, as presented in the Scriptures, arises 
from the fact that men perplex themselves to dis- 
cover how God and man can both be free. It arises 
from God's infinite perfection, that all his plans are 
complete and unchangeable ; how this can be, when 
he deals with sinful and fallible men, we cannot 
comprehend. Yet these facts we may know : God 
is sovereign and immutable, and man is free and 
accountable. How this is so, we presume not to 
explain ; but no reasonable man can gainsay the 
facts. 

If the question be asked. Upon what grounds may 
a sinner come to Christ and hope for salvation 
through his atonement, when he does not know that 
he is among the number of those given to Christ by 
the Father ? we need not go far to find an answer. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 215 

We have better hopes of a sure salvation, and we 
have the same assurance of our acceptance, that we 
could have upon any other view of the work of 
Christ. Let any man consider upon any view of 
the atonement, what is the true reason to hope that 
God will receive us. Is it not the promise of god ? 
He pledgeth himself that whosoever believeth shall 
be saved. We do not need to read his secret coun- 
sels in order to learn our duties or our privileges. 
We know from what he has said, that every believer 
shall be saved ; indeed we have his oath and his 
promise, '' that by two immutable things in which 
it is impossible for God to lie, we might have 
strong consolation who have fled to lay hold on the 
hope set before us in the gospel." Heb. vi. 18. 
And these two great things — the redemption of a 
chosen people, and the gracious assurance of accep- 
tance to every humble sinner, are by our Lord di- 
rectly connected with each other. " All that the 
Father giveth me, shall come to me, and him that 
Cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." John 
vi. 37. 

This is the excellence of the work of Christ, that 
it shall certainly and fully be accomplished. The 
first Adam failed, the second Adam cannot. Surely 
this ought to be a reason of the most urgent nature, 
to lead every sinful soul to seek an interest in this 
great salvation. And the various perplexities that 
spring up, and which multiply because neither our 
ignorance nor our depravity will allow us to see 



216 ADAM AND HIS TIMES, 

things as God sees tliem, yet should not be allowed 
to cloud the plain teachings of the Bible, or to hin- 
der our acceptance of its precious promises. Let us 
seriously ask counsel of God in regard to some of 
our perplexities, refer others absolutely to his will ; 
and find in all of them, reasons for devout thanks- 
giving that the most needful teachings are the 
plainest. 

These are plain truths, that we are guilty and 
lost sinners; that we have sinned much, and long, 
and wilfully ; and that we must perish if we are not 
renewed by the Holy Spirit, and interested in the 
precious blood of Christ. And these are truths as 
plain, that Christ is able to save ; that his blood is 
efficacious to purge the vilest ; that he proclaims 
salvation in our ears, invites every sinner to come, 
and promises that for no reason in the world will 
he cast out any one who does come. Both these 
classes of truths are as plain as the word of God 
can make them. Let any one read the fifty-fifth 
chapter of Isaiah, and decide if any larger or freer 
terms could be ofi*ered to men. " Ho, every one ! 
come without money,*' come with perplexity, come 
with sin, come with fear; but come. ''Licline 
your ear and come unto me ; hear, and your souls 
shall live ; and I will make an everlasting covenant 
with you, even the sure mercies of David." It 
cannot be expected that one can know all the depths 
of mercy in this gracious God, for he adds by the 
prophet this express assurance, " My thoughts are 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 217 

not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, 
saith the Lord." ^ 

Happy is the man who joins his soul to God in 
Christ in the bonds of this " everlasting covenant 
ordered in all things and sure." It has no excel- 
lency superior to this, that it cannot fail ; and 
Christ Jesus has no glory greater than this, that he 
is able and willing to save to the uttermost all that 
come unto God by him. No man can defeat the 
Divine purposes, or defraud the Redeemer of his re- 
ward. Sinful men can refuse the mercy of God to 
their own just condemnation. But whosoever ac- 
cepts the Divine oifers, and joins himself to God in 
this covenant, shall certainly be saved. How gladly 
should men say to each other, as they ask the way to 
Zion and have their faces thitherward, " Come and 
let us join ourselves to the Lord, in a perpetual 
covenant that shall not be forgotten!" Jer. 1. 5. 
19 



218 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

Adam's first born sons. 

From these thoughts upon the union of our race 
in our first father, it is proper now to pass on to 
the subsequent events in his history. 

It is likely that the mercy of God, mingled with 
the sentence pronounced upon them, and especially 
the promise of a coming Redeemer, led our first pa- 
rents to the exercise of a genuine repentance. The 
plan of salvation, at least so far as it is taught in 
the solemn 6fi*ering of typical sacrifices, was doubt- 
less explained to them ; and their faith was directed 
towards atoning blood, and yet taught to look for- 
ward to the coming Sufi'erer. We can hardly think 
that principles and services so significant would be 
so abruptly begun among men, with no special design, 
and with no understanding of their meaning. We find 
these things introduced into the history as abruptly 
as possible. Adam and Eve were clothed in skins ; 
and we are not told whence the skins were derived. 
But as animal food was not then eaten, it is natural 
to conclude that the beasts were slain in sacrifice. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 219 

We find Abel offering a sacrifice and accepted by 
faith ; but the language seems to imply that he here 
fulfils duties already familiar to man. We conclude 
from these things, that God gave Adam directions 
for his worship, such as suited a sinner ; and we 
hope, rather than know, that our first parents re- 
pented of their sins, worshipped God acceptably 
according to his directions, and found forgiveness 
through atoning blood. We cannot judge that they 
clearly knew the things revealed to us ; but we are 
to recognize that God's method of saving sinners 
was the same then as now. 

But the forgiveness of a penitent according to 
God's method of mercy, is not the same as an im- 
mediate restoration to an estate of innocence. Even 
forgiven Adam must go forth from Paradise, and 
be debarred access to the tree of life. As we see 
now in the experience of the church that regenerated 
souls are not souls made perfect in holiness ; as God 
designs to fit his people for his service, not by com- 
pleting at once and without various means, the work 
of making them like himself; as long conflict with 
temptation, and many checkered scenes make up 
the life of the true believer, so our first parents 
must go forth from their pleasant home, and 
submit to the evils their folly and sin had intro- 
duced. The free forgiveness of sin according to 
the gospel of Christ, does not stay the natural 
results of sin already committed, nor defeat the 
workings of God's well ordered laws. 



220 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

We may well suppose that Adam and Eve were 
deeply grieved and humbled by their expulsion 
from the garden. We can easily adopt as the 
lamentation of Eve the familiar lines of Milton : — 

*< Must I leave thee, Paradise? Thus leave 
Thee, native soil, these happy walks and shades, 
Fit haunt of gods ? where I had hoped to spend, 
Quiet though sad, the respite of that day 

That must be mortal to us both 

. . . How shall we breathe in other air 
Less pure, accustomed to immortal fruits ?'* 

Nor less was that a proof of their fallen estate 
that an angel and a flaming sword should guard the 
gate, and should forbid them to approach the Tree 
of Life. 

The incidents recorded in the long lives of Adam 
and Eve are few ; and the names of but a few of 
their children are given. As the human race at- 
tained to extraordinary age in these early times, 
we cannot decide certainly whether the adult period 
was reached in twenty years as now, or whether it 
came later. Yet we know that this period came 
then earlier than to us in proportion to the length 
of life. Their years were tenfold ours ; but their 
adult period was not two hundred as compared with 
our twenty. We read of fathers at sixty-five, se- 
venty, and ninety ; and it may be true, that the 
childhood of the Antediluvians was no longer than 
the childhood that belongs to our briefer term of 
life. It is very easy to show, upon any rea^ 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 221 

sonable supposition, that the advance in population 
must have been rapid. Within a few hundred years 
from the creation, many thousands of men lived up- 
on the earth. 

The first-born in the family of Adam was named 
Cain. We can easily imagine that it was an hour 
of joy in the earth when this child was born. The 
love of a mother for her first-born is proverbial. A 
new affection is then also born ; and it comes with 
a vigour and freshness that fills the mind with de- 
light as she gazes upon the helpless being entrusted 
to her care. But how strong was this affection in 
Eve as she looked upon the first of first-born ! and 
her rejoicing at his birth was greater, if she mistook 
him — as it is generally thought — for the promised 
seed. The name Cain signifies possession ; for 
said she, ''I have gotten a man, the Lord." 

Alas ! how wonderfully may the fond hopes of a 
mother be disappointed. She looks with affection upon 
her infant boy ; she shields him from all evil which a 
mother's care can ward off; she tenderly cares for 
his helplessness, and supplies his wants ; but he will 
soon go forth to scenes over which a mother cannot 
watch ; to dangers from which a mother cannot pro- 
tect ; and to sins that may change a mother's early 
joy to the deepest grief. What a contrast between 
Eve's hopes when she thought that her first-born would 
avenge her quarrel with the serpent, and the sad 
reality in the subsequent history of Cain ! The re- 
sponsibility of a parent's care should always chasten 
19 ^ 



222 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

the joy with which we look upon our beloved chil- 
dren, and the hopes we entertain of what they are 
to be. And doubtless we would have wiser parents 
and happier children, if both could better realize how 
much their usefulness and happiness are mutually 
dependent. A parent may do much to form the child 
for future good or evil ; and the misconduct of a 
child may bring grief and sorrow upon an aged 
parent. 

There was a great difference in character be- 
tween the two eldest sons of Adam, whose names 
are given us. Something of this may be traced to 
a great difference in natural disposition, and per- 
haps healthfulness. The different occupations of 
the two may give us a hint of this. Cain was a 
tiller of the ground. Doubtless the arts of agricul- 
ture were rude at first ; as even to this day, a very 
imperfect system of tillage prevails in all the lands 
of the Bible. And in that early age, the earth may 
have felt so little the influence of the curse ; thorns 
had spread so little abroad, and land was so 
abundant, that the tiller's occupation may not have 
exacted so severe labour as now. Still, the toil of 
cultivating the earth was greater than was required 
for a shepherd's life. Adam trained both for in- 
dustry. But the name Abel signifies vanity. It is 
not uncommon in the East to change the name after 
any important event. This name seems so signifi- 
cant of his early removal from earth, that we are 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 223 

almost led to judge that it was given after his death, 
or that it was dictated by a prophetic spirit. 

Yet the name may indicate a weak and feeble 
constitution. And that he possessed such,. may be 
the reason for assigning to him the lighter duties 
of a shepherd. But the engagements of the bro- 
thers were alike useful and honourable. Few en- 
gagements afford better opportunities for self- 
culture and improvement than both of these. In 
both there are advantages for solitary thought ; oc- 
casions to notice the providences of God, and much 
dependence upon the Divine blessing for success. A 
nation is prosperous where these two earliest occu- 
pations of men prosper ; and corruption of morals 
and manners is less likely to prevail where either 
the pastoral or the agricultural interest is chiefly 
promoted. 

We judge that, of course, Adam taught his sons 
the principles and duties of religion, and trained 
them to the acts of worship enjoined upon him. 
Yet we gather what these were only from the narra- 
tive. It is one of the characteristics of the Bible 
that some of our most important religious services 
are spoken of familiarly with no account of their 
origin. In the New Testament, baptism, first with 
John in the wilderness, and afterwards by Christ 
and his disciples, is spoken of as a religious service; 
of whose origin Ave have no account, and whose de- 
sign we gather from various teachings. So in the 
Old Testament when we first meet with sacrifice, it 



224 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

is already an established rite ; no account is given 
of its institution, and its design is learned from 
far later teachings. 

We are told that the sons of Adam both wor- 
shipped God. " In process of time," it is said, they 
brought their offerings. The margin reads, " at 
the end of days." It seems to be at an appointed 
time, and may mean, as some interpreters understand 
it, upon the Sabbath-day. We cannot suppose, of 
course, that Adam taught his sons diiSerent methods 
of worship ; yet we find them ofi*ering diverse things, 
and their acceptance was not alike before God. 
Alas ! this fruit of sin was not wanting in the very 
family of Adam, that so early in the history of the 
race, perverse worship is ofi*ered to God, and the 
simple faith of the gospel is despised by man's 
proud powers of reason. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 225 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE WORSHIP OF CAIN. 

We are suddenly introduced in the inspired nar- 
rative to the first recorded acts of human worship : 
with no immediate explanation of the meaning of 
these things, we have no assigned cause for the 
rejection of one worshipper and the acceptance of 
the other. Yet we are not to judge from the silence 
of the inspired pages, that these two brothers who 
stand before the same God, had received no instruc- 
tions as to God's requirements for acceptable service. 
They knew how to approach him ; and as the prin- 
ciples of appropriate worship were the same then as 
in later times, we also may know the nature of their 
offerings, and the reasons of God's diverse dealings 
with them. 

We see these brothers approach God with differ- 
ent offerings. If we judge according to the princi- 
ples of human reasonings, we may be disposed to 
conclude that both their offerings are such as we 
might expect them to bring. When a man brings 
the best he has to God ; when he offers the fruit of 



226 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

his own toil ; when he acknowledges his suhjection 
to Divine authority, and his dependence upon the 
Divine will, would we not suppose that he would be 
accepted ? Cain was a cultivator of the earth, and 
it seemed suitable that he should bring the things 
which sprung up from the earth through his toil. Abel 
was a keeper of sheep, and the increase of his flock 
seemed a fitting oifering on his part. The Almighty 
indeed did not need any offering from either of them. 
But it was by his blessing that their labours had 
proved productive ; and these, his dependent crea- 
tures, ought thankfully to acknowledge his care. 
It seems reasonable that each should bring what has 
come of his own toils. 

But we will make a great mistake if we reason in 
this way, and leave out of view that these were not 
simply God's creatures coming to worship their 
Creator ; but that they were sinful beings approach- 
ing that God whose mercy they should implore. 
The offering that might be becoming in a holy be- 
ing might be insulting, should a sinner presume to 
approach, as if there was nothing between him and 
his God. It would seem from the narrative that Cain 
was no atheist ; he recognized a God; recognized 
the true God ; recognized his dependence upon 
God ; was willing to express his gratitude to God ; 
but he did not come as a sinner, and no part of his 
offering gave any token of penitence. If even we 
believe, though it is not expressly said, that Cain 
brought of the first fruits and of the chief fruits of 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 227 

his labours, still this was no acceptable offering 
from a sinner. The covenant of works was broken ; 
man's best deeds were already defiled ; Cain cannot 
find God's favour thus. 

The offering of Abel was different in its nature. 
He offered a lamb ; but he offered its blood. The 
sacrifice of the altar was the method of acceptable 
approach to God. 

It is surely a remarkable thing that the offering 
of bleeding sacrifices should be so universal among 
men. And we can give no reasonable account of 
such a service, unless we receive the teachings of 
the sacred Scriptures, and learn here the impor- 
tant principles which belong to this method of wor- 
ship. We shall speak in a subsequent chapter of 
Abel and his offering, and then attempt to unfold 
more clearly the signification of this rite. Suffice 
it here to say, that as prophecy in Eden had already 
declared the coming of the Woman's Seed, the 
great Deliverer and Redeemer of fallen man ; so 
sacrifice was instituted to typify him as the Lamb 
of God, who should bleed and die to take away the 
sin of the world. So far as we are concerned, the 
chief explanations of this were given long after- 
wards ; but it is likely that the first worshippers 
were taught something of the meaning of this solemn 
rite. Indeed, mysterious as it is in some of its 
aspects, the service explained itself before the eyes 
of all who offered it. How could any man confess 
his sins solemnly over the head of a living animal, 



228 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

pour out its blood at the foot of the rude altar, offer 
it then in the burning flame, and know that all this 
was by the command of God, without understanding 
that by this service must be set forth some signifi- 
cance of the forgiveness of sin ? 

We are told that Abel offered his sacrifice in 
faith ; and the implication is that Cain's offering 
was one of unbelief. Yet very plainly it was not 
unbelief in God's existence ; nor was it an entire 
refusal to recognize his claims. Had Cain felt thus, 
he would have brought nothing. Cain worshipped 
God according to his own pleasure, and not accord- 
ing to the Divine direction. Religion for a sinner 
is a matter of revelation, not of reason ; and thus 
early in the history of the world the line of distinc- 
tion between these two things is clearly drawn. 
Of course we do not mean that revelation is unrea- 
sonable ; the very reverse is true. Nothing is more 
reasonable than that God himself should instruct 
ignorant and sinful man ; and it is the unreasona- 
bleness of pride and sin which makes man refuse to 
hear. We ought to judge that so great a thing as 
the restoration of sinners to the favour of a holy God, 
would surpass the wisdom of man, and could only be 
learned through Divine teachings. It is important 
for us to know that the spirit which actuated the first 
errorist is yet alive upon earth, and even dwells in 
the hearts of many who wish not to compare them- 
selves with the first murderer. Cain had not indeed 
gone so far as to refuse all worship to God ; but to 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 229 

worship by halves is a step in the direction of not 
worshipping at all. But how many men there are, 
who ought to be better instructed, who think that 
all that God requires of them is the honest, and 
upright, and industrious discharge of their duties in 
society, some respect for his name, and some recog- 
nition of their dependence upon him ? They see 
no necessity for that kind of religion that weeps for 
sin at the foot of the cross of Christ ; that sits in 
penitence around the sacramental board ; and that 
feels a deep anxiety for the salvation of other men. 
We say nothing now of the history of Cain after 
this first offering ; but so far as this first-born of 
Eve is here brought before us, is not his religion 
just such a religion as this ? He was an honest, 
industrious labourer in the fields ; he drew near to 
God with at least some measure of respect ; he knew 
that his daily bread was the gift of a bountiful 
Providence. 

"We are expressly taught in the New Testament 
that no man can find God's favour by any works 
of righteousness done by himself, at any time, or 
for any purpose. This is not only because our best 
works are imperfect and defiled ; but because we 
are sinners and must be reconciled to God by the 
blood of atonement. There are only two ways pos- 
sible by which God's creatures can please him : one 
is by a perfect righteousness of their own, which 
sinners cannot possibly show before his holy sight ; 

and the other is by the atonement of Christ. Both 
20 ^ 



230 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

these methods are here exhibited in these two sons 
of Adam. Abel is accepted because he believed 
God, and offered blood before him to signify the 
death of the coming Redeemer ; and Cain was re- 
jected because he brought no such offering as this. 
And every man will be rejected now, who has folly 
and daring enough to follow in the footsteps of 
Cain. Let any man think that his own reason is 
enough to guide him, while he rejects God's express 
teachings in the Bible ; let any man suppose that 
his own works are enough to secure God's favour, 
and that if one but discharges his usual duties in 
society, he has no special need for dependence upon 
the blood of Christ ; let any man judge that if he 
attends upon the house of God, is respectful towards 
religion, and grateful for the mercies of Providence, 
he need not fear. Yet such men are not believers in 
the footsteps of Abel ; and they may well hear^ the 
solemn warning of the Apostle Jude, ''Wo unto 
them, for they have gone in the way of Cain !'* 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 231 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE REJECTION OF CAIN. 

We are not told by what means Cain and Abel 
knew immediately the results of their worship. 
Perhaps there was an appointed spot where God 
was pleased specially to dwell ; and there were well 
known means by which his favour was indicated. 
Long afterwards upon several occasions, fire de- 
scended from God to consume the sacrifices made 
to him ; and thus he may have answered the altar 
of Abel. 

Cain knew that he was rejected; and it filled 
him with rage. This itself is a proof that he did 
not approach God with an humble and penitent 
mind, as became a sinner. It is not needful that 
we should even attempt to discover the thoughts of 
Cain towards God. If even we could analyze the 
feelings of the first unbeliever ; if we could know 
what he said and why he rebelled, it would be un- 
profitable knowledge. The humble heart knows 
enough of the workings of sin within itself to cause 
it to mourn before God ; and the proud heart is too 



232 ADAM AND HIS TIMES, 

fruitful in evil to need any lessons such as Cain 
could teach. But we know well that renewed pride 
and rage against God, was never the fruit of right 
feelings in any man. True penitence would have 
cast Cain down before God with grief at the sign 
of rejection; and if he had felt as he should, he 
could have entertained no hard feelings towards 
Abel. For he surely was not the cause of his bro- 
ther's rejection. 

In striking and affecting contrast with the anger 
of Cain is the long suffering mercy of God. We may 
see here the plain difference between the Divine favour 
and the Divine forbearance. God did not accept the 
offering of Cain, nor smile upon him as a worship- 
per ; but neither did he, in just displeasure for his 
renewed iniquity, turn utterly away from the unbe- 
liever. As it is in our times according to the teach- 
ings of Christ's Apostles, that God's goodness, and 
forbearance, and long-suffering, are designed and 
adapted to lead men to repentance and salvation, 
(Rom. ii. 4 ; 2 Pet. iii. 15,) so was it in the days 
of God's earliest mercy. God expostulated with 
him ; he pointed out to him the unreasonableness 
of his anger ; and he laid the blame of the rejection 
at the sinner's own door. Perhaps the direction 
for Cain's proper acceptance refers not so much to 
his natural duty of obedience to the moral law, as to 
his duty to comply with the divinely appointed 
methods of worship. " If thou doest well, shalt thou 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 233 

not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth 
at the door." 

If even we suppose the words refer to any duties 
of the creature, God is justified in his dealings with 
the sinner. His displeasure is of justice, and arises 
from man's sin ; and we are specially sinful, if we 
neither satisfy his justice nor seek his mercy. He 
that doeth well shall be accepted ; and every sinner 
may find the means of approaching for acceptance. 
We understand the word sin to stand here for a 
sin-offering. " If thou doest not well — if thou art 
a sinner — there is a sin-ofl*ering by the very door ; 
bring it to my altar.'' Cain was hindered by 
his own wilful refusal to obey the plain instruc- 
tions God had given. He was willing to do some- 
thing in a religious way ; but to humble himself to 
God's demands, to confess his sins, to rely for for- 
giveness upon the shedding of blood, he stoutly 
refused. 

Besides expostulating with Cain for his un- 
reasonable rejection of the atonement, the Lord 
added a mild and forbearing reproof of his tem- 
per towards his brother. He concedes the elder 
brother's privileges ; but reminds him that Abel's 
acceptance was not the cause of his rejection ; and 
thus wonderfully does God deal with men. By the 
teachings of his word, by the admonitions of their 
own consciences, and by the strivings of his Holy 
Spirit, he reminds them that they are the authors 

of their own destruction ; he forbears with them^ 

20* 



234 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

though they are wayward and unreasonable, he 
still points out to them his methods of mercy, and 
waits to be gracious even when they perversely 
quarrel with him, and with humble worshippers 
more acceptable than themselves. Yet how mad is 
sinful man ! Despite the offered mercy of God, he 
will go on to greater and more desperate sin. We 
are not indeed to suppose that Cain foresaw the 
end of his course, or thought that the bad passions 
he now cherished would ere long hurry him into a 
crime which, as yet upon the earth, was without a 
name. The methods of sin were then, as now, de- 
ceitful. But it was in spite of solemn and tender 
warnings that Cain passed on to greater sin. 

These are important lessons to learn from the 
history of Cain, before we pass on to the lamentable 
scenes of his later life : 

1. That they who worship God must come in 
faith ; that is, not only acknowledging " that he is, 
and that he is the rewarder of those that diligently 
seek him," but recognizing that the diligent seek- 
ing of God requires us to lay aside our pride, and 
to come as he directs us. We are to search after 
God. The plain way to our darkened reason, may 
not be, is not likely to be, the right way. Since 
the world began, no sinner ever found God's favour 
except through propitiatory services, significant of 
the shedding of Christ's precious blood. And in 
these later times, in vain does any man expect 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 235 

mercy, who neglects the great salvation. Men may 
diiBfer very much from the temper and conduct of 
Cain ; they may abhor the great crime that has 
stamped his name with infamy ; but if they so far 
agree with Cain as to neglect atoning blood as he 
did, God will as certainly reject them as he rejected 
Adam's first-born son. 

2. They whom God reproves by his word, his 
ministry, his providence, or his Spirit for their 
wrong methods of worship, have nothing to gain 
from the indulgence of murmuring or rebellious 
thoughts. God often refuses to hear our prayers. 
We cry, but we get no answer. He has always 
wise reasons for refusal, and even for delay. Let 
us search and try our ways. Let us watch against 
anger, pride, and despair. " If thou doest well, 
thou shalt be accepted;" and in any case let us 
draw near, pleading the precious name of our sin- 
ofi'ering. 

3. Such religious convictions as do not bring the 
soul near to God, usually tend to harden the heart. 
Worse than the first, is the last state of a man 
whose thoughts ponder his duty to God, but who 
does not truly submit to God's methods of right- 
eousness. The time when a man draws near to 
God, especially if he has some sense of his need of 
forgiveness, is a critical time indeed. But God 
is justified, for the pride, and impenitence, and 
rebellion of ungodly men, who rebel against his 



236 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

mercy, and forbearance, and willingness to be 
gracious. 

4. Nothing is more dreadful than quarrelling 
with God. The wrong is always with us. it leads 
on to greater evil, and the end is death. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 237 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE SACRIFICE OF ABEL. 

Besides the remarkable facts already noted con- 
cerning sacrifices : that their origin is nowhere ex- 
pressly recorded ; that they are so widely spread 
among the children of men ; and that they explain 
themselves as significant of propitiation for sin ; we 
may notice other things that possess interesting 
significance. The animals oifered in sacrifice have 
always been peaceful animals. It was never the 
lion, the tiger, or the bear ; usually the gentle lamb, 
or the meek heifer. It was also the most useful 
animals ; and to increase the value of ofi*erings 
which at best seemed too small, a large number of 
victims were slain. Usually too the distinction was 
made between clean and unclean animals. In all this 
seemed significant the truth that peace and holi- 
ness must be sought by man of his ofi*ended God at 
any price ; and that his gentlest, and purest, and 
best ofl*erings could but faintly foreshadow the ap- 
pointed Lamb of the latter days. 



238 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

If our minds could be carried back to the earliest 
days of human worship ; if we could see our first 
father Adam by the direct command of God ofi*er 
upon his rude altar the first sacrificial victim ; if 
we could enter into the feelings of that trembling 
pair as they stood pleading before their God, we 
might learn a solemn lesson, not unsuitable to us, 
even in these days of clearer light. Here have we 
the same mingling of the awful and the merciful, 
that may usually be found in the dispensations of 
God towards man. Adam must be the first Priest. 
Deeply alfected by the unexpected and undeserved 
mercy of the Lord, he selected the purest and mild- 
est of those mute companions which next to man 
were the chief ornaments of Paradise. Then he 
must build an altar ; must lead the victim before it ; 
must lay his hands solemnly upon its head, and 
there confess in the presence of his Maker his wil- 
ful, guilty apostasy. This done, the life of the 
victim must be taken. Awful sight ! Blood had 
never before stained the earth, our first parents 
had never seen the crimson tide. Now they see 
the innocent lamb, fainting, gasping, convulsed, and 
dying. They must see death in this form, and 
know that their sin had introduced it in worse forms 
than this. 

But it was not all terror that gathered around 
the bleeding victim and the smoking altar. The 
main design w^as to signify and seal the most amaz- 
ing mercy. It was the first institution of a sacra- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 239 

ment in the church of God ; and it proclaimed, 
amid the early ruins of the fall, the same gospel of 
salvation in which we are called to trust. We have 
already pointed out the difference between the offer- 
ings of Adam's eldest sons ; we have seen the true 
cause of Cain's rejection. It may now be proper 
for us to consider the principles involved in the 
sacrifice of Abel. For this is the first offering that 
is expressly mentioned. 

We may suppose that the ceremonies of sacri- 
fice have been substantially the same from the be- 
ginning; and that the minute directions of the 
Book of Leviticus simply record the practices al- 
ready familiar. When Abel brought of the first 
and fattest of his flock as an offering to God, he 
confessed his sin, his helplessness, his righteous ex- 
posure to the wrath of God. He laid his hands 
upon the victim's head ; he confessed his sin. Such 
an offering was unnecessary except for a sinner. 
The righteous have no need of atonement ; the 
self-righteous feel no need of it. Cain, we have 
seen, was willing to acknowledge that there was 
a God; that God was his maker, his providential 
benefactor ; that the fruits of the earth were God's 
gifts ; and that he was dependent upon God as his 
sovereign. But Cain came not as a sinner with an 
offering that sought the Divine mercy. He claimed 
yet to stand as did Adam in Paradise. Abel's 
offering is significant of Abel's views and feelings. 
He felt himself a sinner and came as such. And. 



240 ADAM AND IIIS TIMES. 

truth and honour were with Abel rather than Cain. 
Let not the proud and wicked heart of man admire 
the bold independence of Cain ; or take Abel's hu- 
mility and penitence as tokens of degradation. 
The reverse is a true judgment. Falsehood is al- 
ways mean, however proud ; and truth is always 
noble, however humble. To be a sinner is a shame- 
ful thing ; to be a proud, and stubborn, and har- 
dened sinner is far more shameful. The pride of 
Cain was wicked in itself, and unbecoming his place ; 
while his brother, if meek, was also truthful. Cain 
was only the more a sinner, because he refused to 
confess that he was so. Penitence is the true 
nobleness of a man, who knows that he is in the 
wrong, and he commits a greater wrong, who 
shamelessly refuses to acknowledge the truth. 
"Wo unto them that call evil good and good evil!" 
We break down the barriers between right and 
wrong, either when we admire independent wicked- 
ness, or when we despise the honest, candid, and 
truthful confession of wrong. Cain's refusal to 
own his guilt made that guilt only the greater, and 
more incontestably proved him a wicked man ; while 
Abel's offering was the honourable acknowledgment 
of the truth that he was a sinner. It is more hon- 
ourable to correct a fault than to persist in repeat- 
ing it ; more honourable to speak the truth, how- 
ever humbling, than to assume false appearances, 
however bold ; and thus Abel was more honourable 
than Cain. And a sinful man acts never more truly 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 241 

according to the dictates of true honour, than when 
he bows before God with the candid and penitent 
confession of his sins. 

But if the sacrifice of Abel was a token of his 
penitence, it was just as truly a token of his faith. 
In the Epistle to the Hebrews we are told, " By 
FAITH Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than 
Cain." We do not understand simply that he be- 
lieved that some benefit would follow the oifering. 
This is true ; but to some extent it was true of Cain. 
Cain expected some advantage to result from his 
oifering ; otherwise he would not have brought it at 
all. Expectation of good, even confidence that we 
shall receive it, is not the scriptural idea of faith. 
Faith is the belief of the Divine word, and reliance 
upon the Divine promise. Cain seems to have 
trusted not the Divine teachings, but his own rea- 
son. And because we cannot see how reason would 
suggest the ofi*ering of Abel, and especially because 
we are told that he came in faith, we understand 
that he acted under Divine instruction. If his 
was a sinner's oSering, it was no less the ofi'ering 
of a believer. 

Something of the great method of redemption 
was set forth by it. No thoughtful and serious mind 
could suppose that such an offering could atone 
for sin. A deeply convicted conscience would say 
with Paul, '' It is impossible that the blood of bulls 
and goats could take away sin." Doubtless even 
in Abel's own eyes, his ofi'ering was typical. It 
21 



242 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

began a long line of dark but significant prophecies, 
where, under the Spirit's teachings, the eye learned 
much, and the heart far more. It was a pledge, 
divinely appointed, that the woman's seed should 
come ; it was a pre-intimation of His sufferings, when 
the Lamb of God should take away sin. 

How clear or how obscure were Abel's views, we 
cannot say. He saw not as we do. He was one 
of the righteous men, who desired to see the days 
we see, and saw them not. Perhaps the apostle 
means this when he says that we are come ''to the 
blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than 
that of Abel." Some indeed suppose that he refers 
to Abel's own blood, which, shed upon the ground, 
as with the voice of justice, demanded vengeance 
upon his murderer ; and this he contrasts with the 
blood of Christ, which, as with the merciful voice 
of the dying sufferer, pleads for forgiveness upon 
them that slew him. But the apostle may be un- 
derstood to speak of the blood of Abel's sacrifice. 
This typified and promised pardon, but did not set 
this forth as does the blood of Christ that speaketh 
better things. 

The difference between the two brothers was just 
that of piety and impiety, faith and unbelief in the 
teachings of Divine truth. It seems shocking to us 
that the first-born of the human family should so 
rebel against God, and should refuse the offers of 
Divine mercy revealed for his salvation. And yet why 
should so many in later times, and with the clear 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 243 

teachings of the gospel of Christ, repeat the sin of 
Cain ! The same divisions are found in other fami- 
lies besides that of our first parents ; and in every 
case they involve the same eternal interest, the 
same neglect of Divine mercies. Indeed every soul 
of those who hear the gospel, is a follower of the 
guilt of Cain, or of the penitence of Abel. 



244 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE DEATH OF ABEL. 

The difference between Cain and Abel was chiefly 
religious. We may wonder that two brothers could 
not live peaceably together, though they were thus 
divided ; but we may remember that there is no more 
important thing than religious faith ; nor have any 
differences between men ever produced more serious 
results. The sacred writings assure us that the 
hostility of man's natural mind against piety can- 
not possibly be reconciled. " The carnal mind is 
enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law 
of God, neither indeed can be.'' The Apostle John ex- 
pressly declares that Cain hated Abel, " because his 
own works were evil and his brother's righteous." 
They had been trained up in the same family ; and 
this under circumstances peculiarly favourable. 
Christian parents now find it a great hindrance to 
their family rule, that many families around them 
are far less careful of their children ; and that thus 
those under their care are exposed to pernicious 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 245 

examples. Nothing of this kind influenced the 
family of Adam ; our first father doubtless taught 
his children alike the ways of God ; and Cain and 
Abel from such a household should have lived to- 
gether in unity. 

But the differences between them gradually in- 
creased ; and it was perhaps at the end of many 
years that the contrast in character became so wide. 
We must not allow the brevity of the narrative to 
crowd out of view the real progress of time. It is 
likely that Abel lived one hundred and twenty-five 
or one hundred and thirty years. The two bro- 
thers were not children in age, knowledge, or expe- 
rience. From their boyhood they had started in 
different paths; these did not apparently lead in 
opposite ways, but they insensibly diverged ; and 
at the end of a century of progress they were far 
apart. Let two boys start together now from the 
same family, or the same Sabbath-school. They 
may seem to differ so little, that parents and friends 
hope well for both. But when both are forty 
years old, especially if both live to see sixty or 
eighty years, each walking in the same path they 
have early chosen, they will be far apart indeed. 
If they have loved different things, and held differ- 
ent opinions so long, there is very little likelihood 
that they will feel or think alike. 

When a man has rebelled against God for more 
than a hundred years, we need not wonder to hear 
that he hates those whom God loves; nor be sur- 
21^ 



246 ADAM AND IIIS TIMES. 

prised at any act of wickedness he may do. We 
are told that Cain rose up against his brother and 
slew him. The expression, he talked with him, 
seems to imply a treacherous concealment of his 
purpose. Yet it may be that the act was not pre- 
meditated ; but the result of sudden passion as they 
talked together. This would make the crime less 
flagrant ; but it was a grievous crime in the mildest 
view we can take of it. It was the act of one in 
mature years ; the stroke of an elder brother whose 
place it was rather to protect the younger ; the 
stroke of a wicked man against a righteous man ; 
and here, indeed, as Matthew Henry remarks, 
Cain struck a blow at God himself, for it was the 
Divine approbation of Abel that led to this severer 
hatred. 

We have no detailed account of this dreadful 
scene. It seems to mark it as deliberate, that the 
fratricide denied all knowledge of his brother, when 
inquiry was made for him. Perhaps his guilt 
prompted him to conceal the body ; but the deed 
could not be hid. Reserving to another chapter 
our thoughts upon the murderer and the dealings 
of Providence with him, there are two other direc- 
tions towards which our thoughts may turn, as we 
reflect upon the death of Abel. 

What a stroke of grief was the death of Abel to 
his parents ! Doubtless Adam and Eve had already 
been deeply grieved with the growing waywardness 
and wickedness of their eldest born ; and the re- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 247 

membrance of their own apostasy was more bitter 
and humiliating as they saw the proofs of his de- 
pravity. But that their anxious watchings for their 
children should ever bring them to a day like this, 
was grief and wo, indeed. The day when death first 
enters the household is a serious one for any family. 
And when death comes by the stroke of violence, 
and the form of one we have loved is marred by the 
murderer's hand, it is inexpressibly more aflSicting 
than the fall of a brother by the touch of Providence. 
But what horror aggravates the deed when the 
slayer and his victim have been borne and nursed 
by the same mother ! And here was the first scene 
of the kind; the first human death was here, and 
in this bruised and stifi'ened form Adam saw its 
terrible reign begin. 

We have often been in the house of sorrow. We 
have seen the aged parent bend over the cold re- 
mains of a son cut down in the prime of manhood ; 
and we have dropped the tear of sympathy for those 
w^hose stay in declining years has been taken away. 
But here was aflSiction in all its novelty ; they had 
no familiarity with death in any form ; perhaps no 
conception of it in a form like this. And yet it 
was not grief for the dead that filled Adam's family 
with sorrow in that mournful day. This great 
grief was swallowed up and forgotten in a greater 
wo. As for Abel there was hope in his death. 
The fire of that accepted altar threw its light even 
across the dark valley now first traversed by man ; 



248 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and God's acceptance on earth was the earnest of 
God's acceptance from earth. Abel was not Adam's 
lost son. In the expressive words we sometimes 
hear, "living trouble is trouble." 

What a flood of wretchedness overwhelms these 
parents at this first death scene? Had death come 
in its mildest form, his stroke would have fallen 
heavily upon them, who had first heard his name in 
the innocence of Eden, and had themselves given 
him power in the earth through their folly. But 
it was not that silent beloved one that gave them 
grief. It was not the present, dead Abel ; it was 
the absent, conscience-stricken Cain, for whom their 
parents grieved. We cannot think that Cain would 
venture to stand by, when they first looked upon 
the body of Abel. And even the weeping parents 
must put their dead away out of sight. They could not 
curse his destroyer ; for he too was their son. For 
Abel they could have dried their tears ; for Cain 
they must flow. Could they have utterly dis- 
owned him, his banishment might be some relief. 
But the wretched and guilty wanderer was still 
their first-born ; and they could not curse him, 
while also they could not bless. To them might 
well be spoken the words of Jeremiah, " Weep ye 
not for the dead, neither bemoan him ; but weep 
sore for him that goeth away." Jer. xxii. 10. No 
parental grief exceeds their wretchedness who are 
called to lament for the sin of a beloved child. 

But there is another direction in which our 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 249 

thoughts may turn. Let us think neither of Cain, 
nor of Adam, but of Abel. That was doubtless a 
moment of horror when he caught the fierce gleam of 
his angry brother's eye and saw the threatened blow. 
Death itself was a new and terrible thing ; but for 
a righteous man to die by a brother's hand, was 
horror indeed. Unexpected death, death coming 
suddenly in the very midst of life, is awful enough ; 
but no death can well be more solemn than the first 
death. "Death was denounced to man as a curse; 
yet behold it is first inflicted on the innocent."* 
Sin and death seem indeed to triumph over fallen 
man. 

But the horror of Abel's death is all to sense; our 
faith may see far difi'erent things. Could we lift 
aside the veil that divides time from eternity, how 
diSerently would we feel ! As to outward circum- 
stances, Abel did not depart as a believer might de- 
sire to. If he saw the descending stroke, his mind 
could scarcely turn towards the calm reflections and 
the humble prayers with which the pious soul would 
wish to meet the last enemy. Composure, medita- 
tion, the actual exercise of faith, religious triumph 
seem all improbable, at an hour like that. It is 
not needful that the death scene should be rapturous 
or calm or even peaceful. Anguish and horror may 
be the last thought. Nor do we read that the first 
martyr of the Old Testament was like the first 
martyr of the New. We hear no prayers like those 
* Bishop Hall. 



250 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of Stephen, ^'Lord, receive my spirit: lay not this 
sin to their charge." We read of no opening 
heavens, and the Son of man waiting to receive the 
first trophy of recovering grace. 

Yet Abel died in faith ; and there was an open 
door in heaven to receive his ascending spirit. 
Death only seemed to triumph over the fallen be- 
liever. The first man to die; the first to live 
for ever ; the first mortal for whom the doors of the 
celestial paradise are opened; the first sinner to 
sing the song of redeeming love ; the first born of 
glory; surely if these things are true of Abel, he 
triumphed over death. Happy believer, the first 
of the long succession of redeemed ones from earth ! 

If there is joy in heaven over any repenting sin- 
ner, is there not over every glorified believer? The 
invisible scenes at every believer's departure are in 
wide contrast with what we see. We mourn and grieve 
our loss; angels welcome a new friend and brother 
to their abode of bliss. But there was special joy 
in the courts of light, as the death of Abel began a 
new era in the chronicles of heaven. What happy 
anthems swelled in the first welcome of a pardoned 
sinner to glory ! Lift up your heads, ye gates, 
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and let 
enter the first fruits of God's redeeming mercy! 
Lift up your heads, ye gates, to stand open day 
and night continually, until a great multitude whom 
no man can number have followed the footsteps of 
believing AbeL Let Abel receive the first crown 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 251 

of righteousness ; one like it shall be the reward of 
every soul who loves and longs for the Redeemer's 
glory. 

What a sad and joyful day was that when Abel 
died ! It was both the triumph and the defeat of 
death. Sin and death united their forces to com- 
pass his murder ; but they were able to hold under 
their power only the corruptible body. Abel him- 
self rose from the red-stained earth to know their 
power no more for ever. And Satan saw the first 
evidence of his defeat, as the dying believer triumphed 
over death and him that has the power of death. 



252 ADAM AND IIIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE CRIMINAL EXPOSED. 

We see in Cain the same disposition to conceal 
his guilt that Adam had before shown. This indeed 
is characteristic of guilt; and proves the working of 
conscience. It is true that if the conscience of a 
guilty man was fully obeyed, it would influence him 
to confess his iniquity: and yet the shame that hides 
a crime as truly springs from a sense of guilt. Men 
do not hide their useful and innocent actions. 
What we ai;e ashamed of, we should beware of. 

As with Adam, so with Cain, God spoke to awaken 
his conscience. He asked for Abel, his brother. 
Had there been ajiy penitent thoughts in the heart 
of Cain after his dreadful deed, this form of inquiry 
was adapted to call them forth. But, unhappily, 
Cain was not penitent. His reply therefore was 
falsehood and insolence. It was bad enough to say, 
I know not. Had he stopped at this, we might 
have found this excuse at least of the falsehood, 
that he feared the discovery of his sin and the re- 
sults it might bring upon him. Even then it w\as 
the folly of guilt, how often since repeated ! to think 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 253 

that man's denial can hide the truth from the know- 
ledge of God. But he did not stop with the untruth. 
He cast away from him the cords with which the 
Almighty has bound the heart of every man to his 
brother and his fellow. With an efifrontery and in- 
solence, which surely seem to belong to a hardened 
offender, he asks, Am I my brother's keeper ? Am 
I bound to have any care over him ? Are his in- 
terests any concern of mine ? May he not go where he 
will, do as he pleases, be what he chooses, and suffer 
as he may ; and all this while I attend to my own 
affairs, and have nothing to do with him ? 

There is truly a sense in which every man is the 
keeper of himself; there are responsibilities which 
rest upon the individual soul, and which cannot and 
should not be divided with any other. Each man is 
responsible for his own character, feelings, thoughts, 
words, deeds, and omissions as he cannot be for 
whatever other men may be, or do. But it is no 
interference with the entireness of individual re- 
sponsibility that no man does 'or can live as a 
separate and independent being. It is a part of an 
individual responsibility rather, that what we do, 
and what we refrain from doing, must be governed 
as truly by the law of God, as what we are and 
what we feel. There is a dividing line that can run 
between us and our neighbours, separating our in- 
terests from theirs, and defrauding neither when a 
division is secured. Only in the indulgence of an 
impious and irreligious spirit can any man fail to 
22 



254 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

recognize the obligations wliich bind him to every 
fellow in the race of man. 

It is easy to see in the inquiry here made of Cain 
that that great second principle of the Divine law, 
"Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself/' is the 
recognized foundation of human duty from the begin- 
ning. Because Cain was bound thus to love his brother, 
the question is asked. Because he would throw 
off the restraints of law, the insolent reply is uttered. 
And whoever now excuses himself from deeds of 
charity to the poor, from efforts to spread the 
gospel in lands of darkness, from schemes of useful- 
ness on every hand, upon the plea that he has no in- 
terest in these things, but repeats the falsehood of 
the first murderer, and affirms that he is not his 
brother's keeper. It is in no wise possible to mul- 
tiply the murderous deeds of Cain more abundantly 
than by filling the minds of men with this sentiment 
of Cain. When men care little w^hat becomes of 
their neighbours, it is an easy step to care little 
what they do to them. The omission indeed of duty 
may be both as flagrant and as fatal as the actual 
deed of wickedness. And no man can rightly take 
care of his own interests and his own soul without 
the assistance to this end that is afforded by his 
concern for the interests of others. It is for in- 
dividual as well as public good, that men should 
love their neighbours as themselves. 

Cain's falsehood was vain. The Divine word so 
addresses him as to call forth the true temper of 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 255 

his mind; but he soon learns that his sin is not 
hidden. God declared that he heard the voice of 
his brother's blood crying from the ground. This, 
of course, is a figurative expression ; but it is ex- 
ceedingly forcible to declare that sin is never con- 
cealed from the Divine Judge, and that its very 
commission is a call upon him to execute merited 
punishment. This is true of every sin, the most 
secret, and the least influential; it is especially 
true of the greater sins against society and against 
God, of which Abel's murder was the first fearful 
example. If, on the one hand, no man can ever 
commit any sin without the liability that it may one 
day rise up to meet him, clothed in terrors that 
shall fill his soul with remorse and horror ; so espe- 
cially, on the other hand, the history of the race is 
full of the remarkable revelations of crimes, which 
the providence of God or the conscience of the 
criminal, perhaps after long years, has brought 
forth from the mysteries of concealment and denial. 
It is not enough that no eye saw the deed of 
darkness, and that the knowledge of it seems hidden 
alone in that breast that is too deeply interested 
ever to make it known. You have doubtless read 
the strong words of Daniel Webster upon the trial 
of a criminal, where he urges that the world has no 
corner dark enough to hide the guilty. ''True it 
is," says he, ''that Providence has so ordained and 
doth so govern things, that those who break the 
great law of heaven by shedding man's blood, seldom 



256 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

succeed in avoiding discovery. Especially in a case 
exciting so much attention as this, discovery must 
come, and will come, sooner or later. A thousand 
eyes turn at once to explore every man, every thing, 
every circumstance connected with the time and 
place; a thousand ears catch every whisper, a 
thousand excited minds intensely dwell on the 
scene, shedding all their light and ready to kindle, 
at the slightest circumstance, into a blaze of dis- 
covery. 

''Mean time, the guilty soul can not keep its own 
secret. It is false to itself, or rather it feels an 
irresistible impulse to be true to itself. It labours 
under its guilty possession, and knows not what to 
do with it. The human heart was not made for the 
residence of such an inhabitant . . . The secret 
which the murderer possesses, soon comes to possess 
him ; and like the evil spirits of which we read, it 
overcomes him and leads him whithersoever it will 
. . . He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, 
reads it in his eyes, and almost hears its w^orkings 
in the very silence of his thoughts. It has become 
his master. It betrays his discretion, it breaks 
down his courage, it conquers his prudence. When 
suspicions from without begin to embarrass him, and 
the net of circumstances to entangle him, the fatal 
secret struggles with still greater violence to burst 
forth." 

There is upon this subject an unjust and unwise 
prejudice against admitting that circumstantial evi- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 257 

dence can prove beyond a question the commission 
of a crime. Yet if circumstantial evidence may not 
be received to convict a man of crime, the most 
flagrant offences must pass unpunished. For the 
more deliberate a murder is, the more likely it is to 
be committed when no witnesses are present. When 
a man strikes at the life of his neighbour in sudden 
anger, he may do the deed in open day, and with 
no regard to the numerous witnesses that may sur- 
round him. But no man will form the deliberate 
purpose of crime, and then prefer to do the deed 
where it ean certainly be proved upon him. As 
men are prone to deny their guilt when it is charged 
upon them, so they take every possible care to pre- 
vent any proof that may lead to their conviction. 
" He that doeth evil hateth the light ;" and no human 
witnesses see the crimes that most deserve to be 
punished. 

Not only will the most flagrant crimes remain 
unpunished, if we always require direct witnesses 
of their commission ; but the real proof of the deed 
may be even less certain. It is a great mistake to 
judge that circumstantial evidence is more falla- 
cious than direct proof. Since perjury is possible, 
the explicit testimony of a few witnesses may really 
be of far less weight than a well established train 
of circumstances. When public attention is fully 
aroused by some shocking crime, when everybody's 
ears and lips are open, and from a hundred w^it- 
nesses, who do not know each other, or know what 
22 * 



258 ADAM AND IIIS TIMES. 

each other says, an array of minute facts is 
gathered, each of small account in itself, and yet 
all together forming a train of connected circum- 
stances — like the types of a printed page, each 
type of little significance, yet this combination 
of them all, conveying most important instruction 
— there is often secured a conclusive proof scarcely 
inferior to the sight of the eyes. In a well es- 
tablished chain of such evidences, the witnesses 
cannot possibly agree to make any false impres- 
sion. They are too numerous and of too diverse 
characters; many of them cannot know the bear- 
ing upon the case of the little thing they have to 
say ; it is impossible to make a long array of false- 
hoods hang harmoniously together; and though it 
is possible for many suspicious circumstances to 
array themselves around an innocent man, it is 
also true that clearly defined circumstantial proof 
may gather a network of evidence around a crim- 
inal to hem him in on every side ; and we may de- 
cide upon his guilt with as much certainty as ever 
belongs to human judgments. Nothing is more 
difiicult than to establish a theory that is really 
untrue, in the presence of competent and expe- 
rienced judges, by numerous witnesses testifying 
to things occurring around themselves in the same 
place and time. Truth is harmonious ; falsehood is 
necessarily inconsistent; the more numerous the 
circumstances, the more certainly will an expe- 



ADAIVI AND HIS TIMES. 259 

rienced mind discover the discrepancies ; but in con- 
sistent circumstances alone may a conclusion be 
founded, ''far more satisfactory than direct evidence 
can produce/'* 

^Greenleaf on Evidence, i. 19. 



260 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

CAPITAL PUNISHMENT. 

It seems fairly implied in the language used con- 
cerning Cain that the natural and proper punish- 
ment for the crime of murder is the death of the 
criminal. The cry of the blood from the ground, 
and the apprehension of Cain that whosoever found 
him would kill him, seem to teach this, before we 
have any expressed law upon the subject. Nor 
does the fact that Cain was not put to death, fur- 
nish any argument against the righteousness of the 
principle. Rather, the manner of his exemption is 
a proof of the law. For evidently Cain felt that he 
deserved to die; he knew that others felt so too; 
and nothing less than some kind of a mark from 
God himself was able to protect him from the strong 
sense of retributive justice in the minds of men that 
he ought to die. Unless we deny that even God 
can grant exemption, we should admit that such a 
mark upon the murderer to keep men from doing 
what otherwise they would do, is the strongest 
proof that this sentiment was originally and deeply 
implanted in the human mind. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 261 

In the times in which we live many efforts have 
been made to show that capital punishment ought 
not to be inflicted. Among the errors by which 
this opinion is urged upon the attention of society 
these are prominent : 

1st. It is urged that the proper end of punish- 
ment is the reformation of the offender and the pre- 
vention of further crimes, and that therefore the 
death penalty can never be justly inflicted. It may 
be acknowledged that the civil law ought to deal 
tenderly, especially with offenders whose consciences 
are not utterly hardened; that every proper means 
should be used to reclaim them ; and that to restrain 
men from doing like things is an important end in 
administering justice. But it is a radical mistake 
to allege that the true nature of punishment is to 
be sought in either of these things. We call this 
the administration of justice. But justice means 
just this — that the criminal receives what he deserves. 
Some crimes are worse than others, in their own 
nature, and in their aggravating circumstances, and 
in their results. Hence punishments differ. But 
all punishments should or should not be inflicted, 
according to the desert of the individual. If the 
worst man in the land was apprehended and pun- 
ished for some crime of which he was innocent, no 
plea of benefit to be conferred upon him, could free 
such a sentence from the charge of injustice. Guilt 
is the only thing that can justify any kind of pun- 
ishment; men are therefore punished because they 



262 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

deserve it. And no other valuable influence can 
ever spring from the administration of law, unless 
this lies at the foundation of all, that justice is done. 
Men are punished not for expediency's sake, nor for 
the sake of reformation ; but because they deserve 
it. 

2d. It is urged that capital punishments come to 
us from the old Mosaic laws, and the abrogation of 
these takes away all the force of authority which 
would establish such a kind of punishment among 
us. We may freely admit that many of the pre- 
cepts given through Moses to the Jewish people are 
not binding upon us; and that we are in no wise 
bound to copy either the laws or the punishments 
that were directly adapted to the Jewish people. 
It is not because such laws were given to them, that 
we argue the propriety of the death penalty for the 
crime of murder. That the Jewish people, or any 
people, ever had the right, by Divine authority, to 
take away life, does indeed prove that the power of 
civil government over the lives of its citizens does 
not at all depend upon their consent granted to that 
effect; and that having once been just it cannot now 
be essentially and radically unjust. 

But we aflBrm that the penalty of death for the 
crime of murder dates further back than the origin 
of the Jewish people; that it does not belong to 
their commonwealth, and is not a peculiarity of the 
Theocratic government; and that therefore neither 
its propriety nor authority is affected by the pass- 



ADAM AND KIS TIMES. 263 

ing away of the Jewish dispensation. In this re- 
cord concerning Cain, we have the propriety of this 
punishment recognized at the very origin of human 
society ; and when after the deluge society was re- 
constructed for all mankind in our second father, 
Noah, no language can be more explicit than the 
charge given to all men and all time through him. 
Where is the evidence that God ever repealed these 
words? They were not spoken to the Jews, but 
to man. "Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man 
shall his blood be shed.'' And if there was any 
force in the reason assigned, it is as forcible in one 
land or age, as another ; " For in the image of God 
made he man." 

If it can be proved that the practice of putting men 
to death for the crime of murder prevailed only among 
the Jewish people, there might be more force in the 
allegation that such a penalty should cease with 
the fall of the Jewish State. But the universal 
prevalence of the sentiment forbids us to think that 
it either belonged specially to Jewish law, or was 
copied by men from the Jewish statute book. That 
the penalty of death has been inflicted in every land, 
and under every style of government, declares it 
the natural dictate of man's sense of justice. 

3d. It is urged against capital punishment some- 
times that it is too severe, and at other times that 
it is not sufficiently severe. These contradictory 
statements sometimes occur in the same argument ; 



264 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and prove but little for the candor of those who 
urge them. 

It is vain for any man to argue that death is a 
punishment less severe than a lifelong imprisonment. 
Men do not plead for death rather than imprison- 
ment : criminals never ask their attorneys to secure 
for them, if possible, the conviction of murder in the 
first degree, rather than the second, because the 
first has the milder punishment of death ; or if a 
man was sentenced to a life imprisonment for some 
great offence, men would not consider it an act of 
mercy, should a mob wrest him from the hands of 
the officers and hang him on the road to the peni- 
tentiary. Whatever instances of morbid folly may 
be addressed to the contrary, it is the common and 
just sentiment of mankind, that death is the severest 
penalty that human law can inflict. 

And just because it is so, it ought to be inflicted 
for the highest crime of which man can be guilty. 
There are men who, without having shed blood, are 
so injurious to society that they deserve a lifelong 
separation from their fellows. But so precious a 
thing is human life ; so widely should we separate 
between the crime that takes this away and every 
other crime, that the highest possible penalty is not 
too severe for its punishment. Nor is there the 
slightest force in the cavil that we thus repeat the 
very off'ence which we punish. There is the greatest 
possible diff'erence between the same things done by 
violence and done by law; done by private revenge 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 265 

or piuvate vice, and done by public justice. If a 
magistrate lawfully inflicts a fine upon me, and 
the sheriff clothed with the proper authority forcibly 
takes my property to pay that fine; this is one 
thing. If a robber forcibly takes from me the 
same amount, it is quite another thing. If the 
law takes a man's life, it is penalty: if an un- 
authorized person takes away life, it is murder. 
Provocation to murder may extenuate the offence; 
hence the law allows of several degrees ; but 
voluntarily, unlawful killing is always criminal; 
and by this, is as far as possible removed from the 
authorized acts of the law. What folly to suppose 
that the Lawgiver did not understand his own law^, 
when he declared that the blood of the murderer 
should be shed; or when he followed the general 
declaration. Thou shalt not kill, by numerous ex- 
plicit directions to punish certain crimes with death ! 

Among the reasons that urge that the murderer 
should certainly be put to death, may be mentioned 
such as these: 

1st. The sacredness of human life and the propriety 
of throwing every possible safeguard around the in- 
nocent. Death is the most solemn event that meets 
man upon the earth. No greater injury can be in- 
flicted upon any man than to take his life. The 
man who will wantonly or wickedly commit this 
highest of all crimes, justly merits the highest of all 
penalties ; this enormous crime should have a pun- 
ishment of extreme severity. 
23 



266 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

2d. The direct authority of the Divine law vindi- 
cates the righteousness of this penalty. That can- 
not be in its own nature unrighteous that has so 
repeatedly received the Divine sanction ; and if in 
some states of society, less crimes than this have 
been thus punished, this does not weaken the proof 
that a crime, which all ages and all nations have 
consented so to punish, should ever require the death 
of the offender. And no sophistry can evade the 
direct force of the precept given to Noah, ''Whoso 
sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be 
shed.'' 

3d. If capital punishment is abolished for the 
crime of murder, human life will be rendered more 
insecure. Many a wicked man, in the eager pur- 
suit, for slight or even fancied injuries, will run 
almost any risk to wreak the severest revenge. Let 
such a man know that his own life is safe in any 
event, even when he takes the life of his neighbour, 
and he will not stay his hand from this foulest deed. 
So if there is no greater punishment for murder, 
than for robbery, many a witness will be put out of 
the way; with the hope that both crimes may escape 
detection, and with the certainty that the discovery 
of the two can make the sentence little or nothing 
more severe. To lay aside the death penalty from 
our statute book is to throw the influence of our 
laws around the criminal for his protection, while 
w^e leave just men more exposed to violence than 
over. Let us sympathize with suffering, but not to 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 267 

legalize violence ; not to allow criminals to do what 
none but they dare do. A French writer upon this 
subject forcibly sums it all up in a single expres- 
sion. ^'If the flow of human blood should stop, let 
the murderers set the example!" Just as soon as 
men cease to take away the lives of their fellows 
by wrong, capital punishment by law may cease; 
and the last can never safely be laid aside till the 
first is no longer known. 

4th. So strong is the sense of indignation and right 
in human minds against foul crimes, that to abolish 
capital punishments will certainly tend to increase the 
cases in which human life will be sacrificed. How 
comes it to pass that in our own land, among the most 
intelligent and law-abiding people upon earth, we 
have so many instances of Lynch Law and of Vigi- 
lance Committees? If the laws will not do what 
the moral sense of the community declares should be 
done, means will be found to reach the end. Yet 
far better execute justice by law, than by the power 
of the most respectable Committee of Vigilance that 
ever existed. 

Nor, 6th, does human experience show that the 
penalty of death can be justly or wisely laid aside. 
The trial has been made, and not without serious 
remonstrance against its influence. We need not 
attempt to gather here statistics upon such a sub- 
ject; but may simply express the hope that the 
public convictions are more settled in support of the 



268 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

death penalty than the agitators of the subject 
seemed to threaten a few years ago. 

The Divine law upon the subject is the earliest 
instance of legislation ; it was repeated the first of 
law% when the world was repeopled; it is compre- 
hensive in its terms; it has the same reasons to en- 
force it now as ever. God gave it; he has never 
repealed it. And his law and the sense of justice 
in every human breast are violated by its repeal. 
No reasons exist why man can ever wisely or justly 
set himself in array against the Divine Legislator. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 269 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE PUNISHMENT OF CAIN. 

The question may naturally be asked, Why was 
the penalty of death remitted to the first murderer ? 
If human life is so sacred, and should be so sacredly 
guarded, why should the example be so early set of 
the exemption of a manslayer whose guilt was so 
aggravated, and whose evil influence might be so 
wide and great? 

The remission of a penalty is no disproof of its 
justice. If we cannot give any good reason for the 
fact that God not only exempted, but also protected 
the first murderer from the vengeance of man, this 
does not invalidate the proof that the law was ordi- 
narily otherwise. The necessity of a mark upon 
Cain arose from the law ; and if God should now put 
a well known mark upon any man, signifying the 
Divine will that we should not punish him, we ought 
to regard this as a proper reason for remitting the 
penalty. But surely the reasoning would be too 
absurd to say: since God remitted this penalty, 
every penalty should be remitted, and no murderer 
punished ! The power of remitting or commuting 



270 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

punishment ever belongs to sovereign authority ; its 
exercise must be governed by the discretion of the 
executive; and the law is still the same, even when 
we cannot explain why this clemency is shown. 

We do not know for what reason God remitted 
the penalty of death for the sin of Cain. But it is 
not hard to see that one reason would make his 
punishment more difficult and delicate than that of 
any subsequent manslayer, and would render the 
remission of his punishment almost as much a favour 
to others as to himself. If Cain should have been 
put to death not long after his offence, we may ask 
the question. By whose hands must the sentence be 
executed ? Cain was himself the oldest man on the 
earth, except his own father ; and as Adam had no 
childhood, but was created a mature man, perhaps 
his eldest son, though he would appear much 
younger, was really only a year or two younger 
than his father. By w^hose hands then must Cain 
die, if the law was carried out ? Must Adam take 
the life of his first born ? If not he, then the circle 
of men next younger were Cain's own brothers. 
Must they execute the law against him ? It seemed 
necessary in the circumstances of the case to choose 
between these two things : either to delay the death 
of Cain until a generation of men had grown up who 
were but distantly related; or to lay the heavy 
burden of putting him to death upon some near and 
tender relative. This was the unparalleled state of 
things that this unhappy criminal was a near rela- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 271 

tlve of every living soul upon the earth ; and though 
justice did require his death, yet it could not then 
occur without doing violence to the tenderest feel- 
ings of humanity. God's leniency towards the 
murderer was to spare the feelings of others. The 
law could be carried out without such a sacrifice of 
feeling in later times. It could not then. Nor is 
this the only instance in which the circumstances 
of Adam's family tended to modify the laws after- 
wards enforced. 

But if the living men were all his near kindred, 
why did Cain fear that some man finding him would 
kill him? Doubtless there were men enough living 
on the earth at that time; for the increase of Adam's 
family may have been rapid. But no matter how 
numerous they are, they were all near relatives. 
But there is no necessity for supposing that Cain's 
fears all referred to the present time. Perhaps 
Cain lived more than six hundred years after the 
death of Abel; by that time the earth would be 
covered with a large population; some of these 
would be far removed from him in relationship ; and 
without the assurance of Divine protection, he might 
be liable to be put to death at any time. It is God's 
design that since Cain does not die in immediate 
connection with his crime, he shall not live for 
ages in apprehension that the stroke may one day 
come. 

But though that, which we regard as the natural 
penalty of Cain's crime, was for this or other reasons 



272 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

remitted, he was not wholly without punishment. 
The mere discovery of crime has often the effect to 
awaken remorse in the criminal, which he has not 
felt so long as his crime remained unknown. Espe- 
cially the voice of God can easily arouse the 
slumbering conscience of the guilty. Even after 
such a crime, Cain uttered a lie in his Maker's pre- 
sence, and with bold-browed insolence refuses to be 
interrogated as his brother's keeper. But soon the 
scene changes; his heart is filled with terror; and 
he hears with dismay the sentence that hardens the 
earth beneath him ; and sends him forth a restless, 
unhappy wanderer from the tents of his father and 
the presence of God. Away from God's sight he 
could not go ; perhaps there was some manifestation 
of God in a place of appointed worship ; perhaps 
any worship that Cain might offer could no longer 
have hope of acceptance. 

The conscience of a sinner may be long careless ; 
new engagements in life, new crimes against God 
or man may harden the heart ; but at any moment 
the transgressor is liable to an awakening by the 
voice of God or the finger of Providence, that shall 
banish all his false peace. Happy is he whose con* 
science is early awakened. Happy he who truly 
repents of sin, and implores the Divine mercy when 
God speaks to his conscience ! We know not how 
to interpret the complaint of Cain ; but it is evi- 
dently the voice of misery, however we understand 
it. If we take the words just as they stand in the 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 273 

English Bible, " My punishment is greater than I 
can bear:" we may know that a man may have in 
his own breast a sense of wretchedness through his 
own sins, the most insupportable. There are some 
who argue that the punishments of sin are through 
the conscience alone ; and that every transgressor 
even in this life receives constantly the just reward 
of his transgressions. This is teaching very different 
from human experience, and from the word of God. 
Human experience teaches that the more men sin, 
the more indifferent ordinarily do they become to 
the commission of sin ; and the Bible teaches that 
^'because sentence against an evil work is not 
executed speedily, therefore the hearts of the children 
of men are fully set within them to do evil." To 
say that men always feel the remorse due to their 
sins in this life, is to express an error dangerous in 
its tendencies and unsupported by any wise teach- 
ings. To affirm that they are sometimes awakened 
to keen remorse, and that then their anguish is 
grievous to be borne, is a truth of immense im- 
portance. For if, even here, God lays his heavy 
hand upon the transgressor, when there are so many 
things around to alleviate his sorrows and to engage 
his thoughts, who can bear the anguish of that world 
of woe, where all reasons for Divine forbearance 
will be gone, and the soul shall only bear his wrath ? 
It implies the anguish of Cain's mind, if we take 
his words in another sense, which may belong to 
them, and which is expressed in the marginal read- 



274 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

ing of the English Bible: ''Mine iniquity is greater 
than that it may be forgiven." We do not know 
that Cain had sinned beyond the Divine forgiveness. 
Rather, the true scheme of Divine mercy from one 
end to the other of this sacred volume, encourages 
even great transgressors to return to God and live. 
But this wretched man before this refused to draw 
near to God in the appointed methods of his worship ; 
and now, in the time of his acknowledged guilt, he 
shows no disposition to adopt that system of faith, 
on account of which he had slain his brother. We 
have no reason to doubt that God's forbearance 
towards him gave him opportunities for repentance. 
But we have no evidence that he ever did repent. 
The reverse seems to be taught us. Cain went out 
from the presence of the Lord. Away from the 
place of God's appointed worship ; away from the 
society of those that loved and feared God, he vol- 
untarily went forth. This is the crowning proof 
of Cain's impenitence; this marks the essential dis- 
tinction between remorse and repentance. There 
is a sorrow for sin that is a sorrow of the world ; its 
mark is, that it drives a man away from God and 
piety, and its end is death. There is a godly sor- 
row, that grieves before God, and leads the penitent 
towards God, seeking forgiveness and practising 
obediences ; and this sorrow alone is unto life, and 
is itself not to be repented of. 

Sin is a fearful thing ; but impenitence in view 
of God's forbearance and mercy, greatly aggravates 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 275 

iniquity, and more clearly justifies God's condemna- 
tion of the sinner. Great a sinner as Cain was, hia 
sin was greater far, for his hardening his spirit in 
such obstinate unbelief. Doubtless Cain thought 
hard of God. Impenitence always prompts this 
feeling. A wise sinner will beware of it. God is 
holy, wise, and just; we are through sin prone to 
self-deceit and self-indulgence. That only is true 
penitence, which both acknowledges the equity of 
the Divine sentence, and seeks forgiveness through 
mercy. 

Men who may not reach the deep measure of 
Cain's iniquity, nor go through the earth with the 
mark of Cain upon them, must still beware that they 
copy not his impenitence. Let a man's sins be great 
or small, if he goes out from the presence of the 
Lord; if he turns away from his gospel, his mercy- 
seat, and his service, he goes in the way of Cain, 
and he shall meet the woe of Cain. And every 
step in this way is dangerous. Wisdom bids the 
sinful soul stop now; and God's voice pleads, ''To- 
day . . . harden not your hearts." 



276 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

CALLING UPON THE LORD. 

It is the kind ordination of Divine Providence 
that time alleviates our most poignant sorrows. The 
human mind could not long endure the pressure of 
such griefs as sometimes fall upon us; and though 
there are sufferings we cannot learn to forget, yet 
the anguish of such is softened by the demands 
which new duties make upon our thoughts and cares. 
Such trouble as had now fallen upon Adam's family, 
must have cast its gloomy shadow far forward upon 
the long pathway of their lives. Many an hour of 
tears, many a pang of bitter grief, would memory 
bring upon Adam and Eve, as they recalled the 
death of Abel, and the stern brow and the haughty 
impenitence of their exiled first born. Yet their 
minds were engaged and relieved by the healthful 
occupations of life; and the cares of an increasing 
household prevented them from brooding over their 
great grief. Shortly after the murder of Abel 
another son was born. Him they named Seth ; and 
he was received by Eve as AbeFs successor. Yet 
we believe that many sons and daughters had before 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 277 

this been born to our first parents. We may trust 
that Seth specially possessed the faith and character 
of Abel. His descendants received the promises; 
and through him four thousand years later, the 
promised Seed was born. On this account the 
name of Seth is thus specially mentioned of Adam's 
sons. 

After this we have but few words concerning 
Adam. But the record of the age to which he 
lived, teaches us that Adam saw eight lineal genera- 
tions of his children, and died one hundred and 
twenty-six years before the birth of Noah. The 
most remarkable occurrences of the antediluvian 
period occurred while the first father yet lived. He 
lived to see a vast increase of the world's popula- 
tion, the spread of corruption and violence, and the 
world fast ripening for the judgments of God. 
Polygamy sprung up, a fruitful source of evils in 
all the history of man ; and murder became no un- 
common event. 

But while many dark shades rested upon the 
picture of human life spread before the eyes of 
Adam, there were also scenes of joy and cheerful- 
ness. Perhaps one of these is signified by the 
record made shortly after the birth of Seth, '' Then 
began men to call upon the name of the Lord." 
Standing by itself, we cannot indeed decide certainly 
upon the meaning of the expression. Some have 
even thought that this is a record of evil ; and that 
then first men began to use the name of God pro- 
24 



278 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

fanely. There can be no question but that the 
proper use of the Divine name would naturally pre- 
cede the profane use of it ; and this is proof of the 
exceeding wickedness of profane swearing, that it is 
WORSHIP IN MOCKERY. Profane swearers do not 
think as they say ; nor mean the full wickedness of 
their words ; nor of deliberate purpose insult God, 
and call for his vengeance. But scarcely any 
wickedness has less of justifying apologies, is more 
purely wicked in itself, has a greater direct tendency 
to dishonour God and bring contempt upon him, and 
is of less advantage to the transgressor, than the 
vice of profanity. It is always a social vice. 
Nobody ever learned to swear by himself, or cared 
to indulge in profanity, unless after the bad habit 
was firmly fixed, except in the hearing of others. 
Thus the profane man is always a sower of mischief. 
He calls upon all who hear his profane words, and 
bids them mock God. How any man of common 
sense and having a single serious thought, not to 
speak of pious feeling, can read over such a tract 
as the "Swearer's Prayer," and then ever venture 
to open his lips in profanity, is most amazing. ^ Yet 
that men can so do, is proof that the darkest teach- 
ings of the Bible concerning human depravity are 
but too true. What a world of iniquity this is by 
reason of profanity ! The oaths of men far out- 
number their prayers; and it is well that God is of 
long suffering mercy. And many persons, who do 
not take the name of God in vain, yet venture upon 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 279 

the borders of profanity by many expletives that 
partake of the same nature, that are useless in 
themselves, and that are of evil tendency. 

But although this form of human wickedness may 
have prevailed early in the history of the race, we 
do not think that its origin is here recorded. Nor 
do the words mean that then men first began to 
pray. It is indeed striking that the Bible can 
hardly be said to command us to pray. Its in- 
junctions to this duty seem rather to be directions 
concerning the manner, the spirit, and the objects 
of prayer ; and thus they take this duty for granted 
as one of natural obligation, or as a privilege that 
needs no law to command it. Dr. Dwight remarks 
that the first command to pray is found in Ps. cxxii. 
6. ''Pray for the peace of Jerusalem;" and this 
was given after the world was three thousand years 
old.* But even this rather exhorts to plead for 
a special thing, than commands the mere duty 
of prayer. So our Lord says, " Thou, when thou 
pray est .^ enter into thy closet." Thus he directs us 
how to pray, rather than commands the duty. We 
may believe that to the spiritual mind prayer is as 
natural as breath to the body. Men could not live 
one day in a world of wants like this, surely neither 
Adam nor Abel could be believers in the promises 
of a merciful God, without prayer. The first pro- 
mise in Eden was the first encouragement to pray. 
When Abel stood by his accepted altar, the sacrifice 
^Theol Serm., p. 141. 



280 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

itself was a mute prayer; and his faith doubtless 
gave audible utterance to the emotions of his heart. 
The Apostle Paul may be understood to teach clearly 
that prayer is implied in every act of worship. 
''He that cometh unto God must believe that he is, 
and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently 
seek him." Heb. xi. 6. Prayer was scarcely first 
offered in the days of Enos. 

Others suppose that calling upon the name of the 
Lord, which had its origin in the days of this son 
of Seth, may signify the first establishment of public 
worship among men. But we know that the Sab- 
bath was in existence from the beginning ; the offer- 
ing of sacrifices was a public service ; and we cannot 
think that gatherings for worship, which included 
even small numbers when the inhabitants of the 
world were few, should be denied the name of public 
worship. Others refer the meaning of the words to 
the greater difference which about this time began 
to prevail between the church and the world. So 
the marginal reading is, " Then began men to call 
themselves by the name of the Lord." So a little 
later we read of intermarriages between the sons of 
God and the daughters of men. Adam trained his 
entire family in the same religious faith. The force 
of education would lead them all to have some re- 
spect to piety for a while, even when they were not 
pious ; but gradually throwing off those wholesome re- 
straints, the time came for the clear distinction tQ 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 281 

mark those who did and those who did not serve 
God. 

But in his ^^ History of Kedemption," President 
Edwards interprets these words in still a different 
sense. He understands it as the record of the first 
general and powerful revival of religion among the 
sons of men. Amidst the corruption that began to 
overspread the world, Adam had the delight to see a 
time of the flourishing of true piety. The enemy 
came in like a flood, and the Spirit of the Lord 
lifted up a standard against him. As that eminent 
man remarks, ever since the establishment of the 
church, God has been pleased to carry forward 
his work among men by granting times of the 
remarkable outpouring of his Spirit. There are in- 
deed ordinary workings of the Spirit of God, ac- 
companying the gospel, and making it efi*ectual to 
the salvation of sinful men, in all ages and lands 
where his truth is preached. Yet by special seasons 
of mercy — called, commonly, revivals of religion — 
he has ever been pleased to glorify his name, and 
to gather men in greater numbers to partake of his 
grace. In the days of Enos such a time of refresh- 
ing came from the presence of the Lord; and men 
began to call upon him. 

A time of revival calls forth the deep anxiety of 
God's people. For if then many forsake the world 
for the service of God, many too remain hardened 
in sin; many are only almost persuaded to forsake 
sin ; and many indulge transient purposes of peni- 
24* 



282 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

tence and transient joys in a profession of piety. 
In times of revival the religious feelings of men 
rapidly tend to an issue ; and men soon decide the 
momentous issues of life or death eternal. A few 
brief passing days or hours often determine the 
choice of many immortal souls. After such a season 
has been enjoyed in any community, the line of dis- 
tinction is often more clearly drawn between the 
sons of God and the children of men. Perhaps after 
this first revival upon earth, the world and the 
church existed with a more marked separation. 
There was much indeed to bring them together. 
Descended of the same natural parents, the creatures 
.of the same God, subject to the same law, partakers 
of the same nature, having like capabilities, like 
necessities, like immortality, and invited to worship 
at the same altar, in the exercise of a like faith ; all 
men, in the world and in the church, should have 
bowed together before their common Father, and 
have longed to partake of his Spirit's saving influ- 
ences. Alas ! the fatal diiference between the sons 
of Adam still exists, and has grown no less as the 
world has grown older. Why is not one man, per- 
sonally, as deeply interested as any other man in 
the principles of religion, and in the possession of 
piety ? Every man needs the grace of God for his 
forgiveness and renewal and everlasting life. 

As religion and irreligion struggled with each 
other in the earth, no man could feel a deeper in- 
terest in the issue than the father of the race. 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 283 

These were all his children. More than this : AVhen 
he saw so many depart from God, and fill the earth 
with violence, he could not forget that by his guilty 
folly, sin had entered the world. How little re- 
pentance can avail to repair the evils man has done, 
we may learn from the experience of Adam. And 
his was great joy when he saw some walking in 
paths of piety. But in every age of the world, and 
not less among the long-lived men for whose wicked- 
ness the flood soon came, few have walked in the 
way of life ; and the broad and downward road has 
been crowded. As Adam looked upon his increasing 
race, the words of the curse in Eden were fulfilled, 
''In sorrow shalt thou eat bread all the days of thy 
life." 



284 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 



CHAPTER XXXV- 

LONG LIFE. 

*^ It is not growing like a tree 
In bulk, doth make man better be, 
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year 
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear ; 
A lily of a day 
Is fairer far in May, 
Although it fall and die that night, 
It was the plant and flower of light; 
In small proportions we just beauties see 
And in short measures life may perfect be." 

B. JONSON. 

The long lives of men in the early history of the 
world are a matter of interest to us, whose term of 
earthly existence is but one tenth as long. Adam 
himself may be said to have had as long a period 
of adult life as any of his children. It may be that 
some lived a thousand years. The longest life 
recorded is that of Methuselah : this was 969 ; end- 
ing with the very year of the flood. No decided 
record is given of the character of Methuselah. As 
he was in the line of piety and the ancestor of Noah, 
we may hope that he was a good man ; and perhaps 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 285 

the very deluge was delayed until after his removal. 
If not, perhaps as a wicked man, he perished in this 
great judgment of God. 

The long lives of men made it a more easy thing 
to transmit the chief events of history from one 
generation to another. Not more than six or seven 
persons would be necessary to transmit the earliest 
portions of the world's history down to the times of 
Moses. Methuselah lived more than two hundred 
years contemporaneously with Adam, and one hun- 
dred years with Shem ; and Adam, Methuselah, and 
Shem could convey intelligence learned from before 
the flood, even as far down as the days of Jacob. 
Thus the witnesses would be few, and the line direct 
to pass down human traditions ; a matter of great 
importance when men had no written records. Yet 
we do not depend upon their mem.ories for the ac- 
curacy of the history we possess. Even if Moses, 
our historian of these early times, derived his in- 
formation originally from oral tradition, the influ- 
ence of God's Holy Spirit cast out from his records 
every form of error, and supplied every needful 
truth. For the holy men of old, in writing the 
sacred volume, ''spake as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost." 

The length of human life was gradually and rapidly 
shortened after the flood ; so that in the times of 
Moses men lived to the same term of life now com- 
mon on the earth. The gradual shortening of the 
term of existence may be seen by comparing the v. 



286 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

and the xi. chapters of Genesis. Almost every age 
in the v. chapter is over nine hundred years; in 
chapter xi. Shem lived over six hundred years ; his 
three next descendants average less than four hun- 
dred and fifty ; and the three next two hundred and 
thirty-five ; and the three next less than two hundred. 
Mcses himself lived to the age of one hundred and 
twenty years; but in Ps. xc. written by him, the 
usual term of human life is mentioned as seventy 
years. Even now unusual cases of longevity occur, 
running up over 160 years. Sixty years ago a man 
died in Norway aged 160; thirty years ago one died 
in Russia aged 165. Men may live 90, 100, 120 
years, or even more ; yet after seventy, their strength 
is usually ^'labour and sorrow." 

Perhaps the chief reason for the shortening of 
human life is a moral reason. Our time upon the 
earth is very brief and unsatisfactory, if this is the 
only life man is ever to possess. But if the present 
life is designed to be but preparatory to another 
and an endless one ; if God designs that we should 
fix our thoughts upon higher service and higher en- 
joyments than can belong to us here, then the pre- 
sent life is sufiiciently long to enable us to prepare 
for another. This is the season of our minority, 
and our chief concern should be to use w^ell the 
important hours, with our eyes fixed upon the more 
desirable state for which they prepare us. How 
rare a thing it is to see a child long to remain a 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 287 

child! Rather how children wish the slow years 
would hasten away that they may be men ! 

Is it likely that we would prepare better to leave 
the earth, if the allotted time of our remainino; here 
was lengthened ten fold ? Is it not true now that 
religious thoughts and purposes are delayed in our 
earlier years, with the hope and promise of future 
care and repentance? We can scarcely doubt that 
a long life upon earth — that the hope of living for 
centuries would operate unfavourably to the religious 
characters of men. We are not surprised — even 
judging from the experience we have of human 
nature — that generations of long-lived men were 
generations of giants in wickedness, and that the 
earth was filled with violence. Give men the pro- 
spect of living long, and they will usually expect to 
repent late; and alas! all experience proves that the 
promise to repent late is usually followed by repent- 
ing never. If men pass their early years in folly 
and sin, there is but little hope that they will begin . 
to fear and serve God when riper years come. 
Their habits are so strong; their companions pos- 
sess so much influence; perhaps their past deeds of 
evil are too shameful to be confessed; perhaps their 
present engagements are too profitable to be given 
up ; perhaps they have formed prejudices too power- 
ful against religious men and religious teachers. 
Wonderful and numerous are the ties which bind 
evil men to evil ways, when they have for years 
chosen the paths of error. A labyrinth of mazy 



288 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

"wanderings is that home of earthly and sinful plea- 
sures in which the Prince of this world receives and 
entertains his subjects. Few that go with him re- 
turn; they become more and more entangled; his 
house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers 
of death. 

If we found by common observation that men 
after a while became tired of sinning, and turned 
of their own accord to better courses, we might be- 
lieve that a long life here would prove favourable to 
religion and morality. But this is the reverse of 
human experience. The heart becomes hardened 
against good and careless of transgression by long 
habits. How rare and strange the prodigy of the 
conversion from any evil, say of a man who has 
been a transgressor for sixty or seventy years ! Go 
into any of the abodes of sin in this land ; and use 
your efforts to reform the guilty. Lift up that 
fallen form, which intemperance has degraded. 
^Comb back the gray hairs and look upon that 
marred face. Speak plainly and kindly to that 
aged heart. How much hope have you that the 
drunkard of seventy will leave his cup? Can the 
Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots ? 
And if you cannot dissolve habits that have been 
strengthened by indulgence for seventy years, what 
would you do for a wicked man who had lived seven 
or eight hundred? It is not only habits of intem- 
perance that are by years more inveterate. The 
very term expresses the usual opinions of men — in- 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 289 

veterate^ iBxed by age. Every vice is stronger when 
it is older ; and when even the physical energies are 
too weak to pursue the object, the mind remains the 
same. We know the power of Divine grace is irre- 
sistible ; but the change of an aged sinner is a re- 
markable and uncommon event. 

As every sinner hardened in vice becomes a 
tempter of others ; and uses his cunning and influ- 
ence to seduce others to evil, we need not wonder 
that wickedness greatly increased in the antediluvian 
world. When we consider how much more easily 
evil can be wrought than good, we may well fear 
to think how much mischief one single bad man 
could do in a community where he would use 
efforts to corrupt the youth for fifty years. If 
the history of some living men could be faithfully 
written for only ten years back ; if we could see 
how they themselves have grown, in that time, 
more hardened, more cunning, more heaven-daring ; 
if we could note their numerous secret efforts to 
corrupt society and to ruin souls ; if we could trace 
the spread of their influence through various victims 
all over the land, and in coming years, we might 
well stand appalled at the gathering wickedness 
of one man in ten years of time. How rich some 
men will be when their gathered treasures are laid 
before them at the final day ! Rich in the awful 
wrath of God ! 

But give that bad man the hope of exemption 
from the stroke of death for nine hundred years 
25 



290 ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 

of earthly life; let him have the experience and the 
cunning and the recklessness which time brings, 
not for decades but for centuries; and not only 
may you give up hope of his repentance, but you 
may confess that one such man in any city, sets at 
defiance every salutary effort, and puts in peril the 
best interests of every family that dwells near him. 
We do not think that longer life than men now or- 
dinarily possess would be favourable to the interests 
of public morals or a benefit to themselves. If men 
are disposed to serve God and do good, they live 
here long enough to vshow this. The man who can 
live on earth for forty years careless of God and 
neglectful of his soul's salvation, may indeed think 
on his ways and repent and seek the Divine forgive- 
ness afterwards. But so long a period spent in sin 
and voluntary neglect of God leaves him no room 
to complain, if a life thus spent should be cut short 
without experience of the Divine mercy; and it is 
too true that the likelihood of repentance in such 
a man rapidly decreases with increasing years. He 
who will not serve God in a life that may reach to 
seventy or ninety, would not likely serve him any 
better in a life of seven or nine hundred. Time 
enough is now allotted for those that walk here in 
the ways of piety, to show their love and their zeal 
for God; and with less experience of sorrow and 
temptation they are earlier rewarded with the rest 
and bliss of heaven. Time enough for the working 
of evil is allotted to those who cast off the obligations 



ADAM AND HIS TIMES. 291 

of the Divine law ; the earth is earlier free from the 
evil of their example ; and thej sooner pass to their 
merited doom. The life of men on earth is short, 
but long enough if rightly used, and if properly re- 
garded as only the threshold of an eternal existence. 

The sacred writers say but little of the dying 
scenes of any believer's life. We are not told how 
Adam died. But, nine hundred and thirty years 
after he had first awaked to life amid the sweet 
melodies of Paradise, our first father met the curse 
pronounced upon his early guilt, and returned to 
his original dust. The brief record of so long a 
life may suggest to us many profitable reflections. 
If his long life seemed but a brief and troubled 
dream, how vain is ours ! If this is the record for 
such a man, how insignificant are we upon the earth ! 
And if our earthly time is given us to prepare for 
eternity and is long enough — not more — for this 
purpose, how diligently and with our might we 
should do what our hands find to do ! 

And what even is the life of the early patriarchs 
compared with the endless duration to which we all 
are hastening forward? What can earth profit the 
man who fails to lay hold upon an eternal crown ? 



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